Summary.
The relationship between cellular glutathione (GSH), protein-SH levels, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), with respect to the effect of polyamines on the cytoprotective ability of L-cysteine and L-methionine, the most important components in the sulfur amino acid metabolic pathway, in carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced toxicity in isolated rat hepatocytes was studied. CCl4 induced a LDH release and decreased cellular thiols and polyamines levels but treatment with L-cysteine and L-methionine reversed these decreases. Treating with methylglyoxal bis-(guanylhydrazone), MGBG, an irreversible inhibitor of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, which is a key enzyme in spermidine and spermine biosynthesis, and therefore used to deplete cellular polyamines, prevented the protective effect of L-cysteine and L-methionine, but the addition of exogenous polyamines inhibited the influence of MGBG. These results suggest that the cytoprotective effect of L-cysteine and L-methionine in CCl4-induced toxicity were via maintenance of cellular polyamines, GSH and protein-SH concentrations and prevention of LDH leakage.
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Received September 1, 1999, Accepted January 11, 2000
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Chen, W., Kennedy, D., Kojima, A. et al. Polyamines and thiols in the cytoprotective effect of L-cysteine and L-methionine on carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity. Amino Acids 18, 319–327 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007260070071
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007260070071