title: Increase in Blood Glutathione and Erythrocyte Proteins Related to Glutathione Generation, Reduction and Utilization in African-American Old Women with Diabetes.
abstract: Data from this report demonstrate that the plasma and erythrocyte levels of total glutathione (TGSH) are significantly lower in nondiabetic old women than in their young counterparts, and significantly higher in diabetic patients than in age-matched nondiabetic controls. The ratio of reduced glutathione (GSH) to oxidized glutathione (GSSG) declines with age and diabetes, and shows an order as follows: nondiabetic young > nondiabetic old > diabetic old women. In addition, advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) accumulates in RBCs obtained from diabetic patients but not in those from young and old nondiabetic controls. The erythrocyte levels of glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPx1), glutathione S-transferase-ρ1 (GST-ρ1) and glyoxalase I (Glo1) are comparable in nondiabetic young and old women, but significantly higher in diabetic patients than in age-matched nondiabetic controls. Oxidative stress has been suggested to upregulate the expression of these proteins. It is possible that increase in oxidative stress in diabetes, reflected by reduced GSH/GSSG ratio and accumulation of AGEs, upregulates the expression of proteins involved in glutathione synthesis, reduction and utilization in erythrocyte precursor cells, and that overexpression of GCLC is, at least partially, responsible for the increased TGSH in diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan City 430060, PR China.
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Wuhan University School of Basic Medical Science, Wuhan City 430071, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN 37208.
authors.forename: LiChun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan City 430060, PR China.
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN 37208.
authors.forename: Emmanuel U
authors.initials: EU
authors.lastname: Okoro
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN 37208.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN 37208.
authors.forename: ZhongMao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guo
keywords: aging; diabetes; erythrocyte; glutamate cysteine ligase; glutathione