Elsevier

Metabolism

Volume 35, Issue 2, February 1986, Pages 118-121
Metabolism

The effect of fasting on leukocyte and plasma glutathione and sulfur amino acid concentrations

https://doi.org/10.1016/0026-0495(86)90110-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Leukocyte and plasma concentrations of free glutathione, cysteine, methionine, and taurine, and total glutathione and cysteine concentrations were determined in healthy human subjects before and during a seven-day period of total energy deprivation. In leukocytes a progressive decline in total glutathione concentration was found during seven days of starvation due to a decrease in free glutathione content. An increased mixed protein-bound glutathione concentration was calculated, whereas the total cysteine level was unaltered. Fasting resulted in a decreased plasma concentration of free glutathione, whereas the total glutathione level remained unchanged. Free leukocyte concentrations of taurine and methionine were reduced, whereas plasma sulfur amino acid levels were essentially unaffected. These results probably reflect a limited availability of sulfur amino acids during fasting, when glutathione is used as cysteine reservoir for synthesis of other vital sulfur containing compounds. The potential use of leukocyte glutathione, methionine, and taurine concentrations as intracellular indicators of sulfur amino acid deficiency are stressed.

References (40)

  • L Hagenfeldt et al.

    Glutathione and γ-glutamylcysteine in whole blood, plasma and erythrocytes

    Clin Chim Acta

    (1978)
  • DM Greenberg

    Biosynthesis of cysteine and cystine

  • KM Daniels et al.

    The effect of dietary cysteine level on cysteine metabolism in rats

    J Nutr

    (1982)
  • A Meister et al.

    Glutathione

    Ann Rev Biochem

    (1983)
  • PG Richman et al.

    Regulation of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase by nonallosteric feedback inhibition by glutathione

    J Biol Chem

    (1974)
  • BH Lauterburg et al.

    In vivo regulation of hepatic glutathione synthesis: Effects of food deprivation or glutathione depletion by electrophilic compounds

    Adv Exp Med Biol

    (1982)
  • BH Lauterburg et al.

    Mechanism of action of N-acetylcysteine in the protection against the hepatotoxicity of acetaminophen in rats in vivo

    J Clin Invest

    (1983)
  • NS Kosower et al.

    The glutathione status of cells

    Int Rev Cytol

    (1978)
  • R Hahn et al.

    The fate of extracellular glutathione in the rat

    Biochim Biophys Acta

    (1978)
  • Cited by (65)

    • Precisely albumin-hitchhiking tumor cell-activated reduction/oxidation-responsive docetaxel prodrugs for the hyperselective treatment of breast cancer

      2018, Journal of Controlled Release
      Citation Excerpt :

      The albumin-prodrugs conjugates, generally accepted as being stable, can in fact undergo retro-Michael reactions in the presence of other thiol compounds at physiological environment, which may result in the unwanted drug release. However, the concentration of low molecular weight sulfhydryl compounds in human blood plasma, such as: cysteine (~10–12 μM), cysteinylglycine (~3–4 μM), or glutathione (~4–5 μM), was comparatively low when compared to the serum albumin, which was 400–500 μM according to the literature [17, 35, 36]. And the free thiol at the cysteine-34 position of HSA accounts for the major amount (80–90%) of the total thiols in blood plasma.

    • Drug Hepatotoxicity: Environmental Factors

      2017, Clinics in Liver Disease
      Citation Excerpt :

      Patients taking APAP may also be predisposed due to hepatotoxicity due to 24-hour circadian variation.59,68 This may be due in part to the normal pattern of intermittent fasting states over a 24-hour period because during times of fasting,68 glutathione levels are known to drop,69,70 thus potentially decreasing a protective mechanism that normally prevents toxicity from APAP. Fasting states are also known to disrupt detoxification of anti-TB drugs leading to change in the CYP system, predisposing to liver toxicity.71,72

    • Oxidative stress in northern elephant seals: Integration of omics approaches with ecological and experimental studies

      2016, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology -Part A : Molecular and Integrative Physiology
    • A profile of carbohydrate metabolites in the fasting northern elephant seal

      2013, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part D: Genomics and Proteomics
      Citation Excerpt :

      These ischemia–reperfusion cycles are experienced while diving at sea (Kooyman and Ponganis, 1998) and during periodic apneas when fasting on land (Stockard et al., 2007). Both prolonged food deprivation (Martensson, 1986) and ischemia/reperfusion (Zenteno-Savin et al., 2002) increase oxidative stress markers in most animals. The production of NADPH by the PPP is probably an important use of glucose, required to regenerate GSH from oxidized glutathione disulfide (GSSG), in elephant seals.

    • Water-soluble vitamin homeostasis in fasting northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) measured by metabolomics analysis and standard methods

      2012, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - A Molecular and Integrative Physiology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Lastly, vitamins also play important roles as defenses against reactive oxygen species (Beckman and Ames, 1998). Fasting is associated with increases in oxidative stress (Martensson, 1986; Vazquez-Medina et al., 2010) and it is unknown if this influences degradation or requirements of vitamins. It is widely assumed that fasting carnivores rely on gut microflora biosynthesis to fulfill some vitamin requirements of the host, but the scientific literature concerning this is sparse (Hooper et al., 2002; Said, 2004) and often contradictory.

    • The logic of the hepatic methionine metabolic cycle

      2010, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Proteins and Proteomics
    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Supported by grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council (project No 84-13X-05644-05), Tore Nilsson Research Fund, Åke Wibergs Foundation, County Council of Östergötland, and the Medical Society of Linköping.

    View full text