A period of research with Helmut Sies in the 1980s is recalled. Our experiments aimed at an in-depth understanding of metabolic changes due to oxidative challenges under near-physiological conditions, i.e. perfused organs. A major focus were alterations of the glutathione and the NADPH/NADP(+) system by different kinds of oxidants, in particular formation of glutathione mixed disulfides with proteins. To analyze mixed disulfides, a test was adapted which is widely used until today. The observations in perfused rat livers let us believe that glutathione-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), i.a. might be activated by glutathionylation. Although we did not succeed to verify this hypothesis for the special case of G6PDH, the regulation of enzyme/protein activities by glutathionylation today is an accepted posttranslational mechanism in redox biology in general. Our early experimental approaches are discussed in the context of present knowledge. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Regina Brigelius-Flohé. Mixed results with mixed disulfides. Archives of biochemistry and biophysics. 2016 Apr 1;595:81-7
PMID: 27095221
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