Rôle of glutathione in anaerobic tissue glycolysis

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Expts. are described of the effect of glutathione upon the lactic acid production from glucose, from methylglyoxal and from glycogen, by various tissues of the rat. Brain tissue is an example of a type of tissue which produces lactic acid mainly from glucose; muscle is a tissue in which lactic acid formation from glycogen is predominant. The mode of anaerobic breakdown of glucose is different from that of glycogen, and methylglyoxal can be considered as an intermediate product of glucose breakdown in accordance with the theory of Neuberg; the breakdown of glycogen proceeds as postulated by Embden et al. and by Meyerhof et al. with pyruvic acid as an intermediate. Glutathione is essential in lactic acid production from glucose; it had no activating effect upon lactic acid production from glycogen. The concns. of reduced glutathione for the optimal activation of glucose glycolysis and of methylglyoxalase were found to be similar. The significance of the inhibition of lactic acid formation from glycogen by reduced glutathione, and from glucose as well as from glycogen by oxidized glutathione, is discussed, and an explanation of the Pasteur-Meyerhof reaction is offered.