Glutathione (GSH)

Glutathione is a tripeptide (Glu-Cys-Gly) synthesised intracellularly through a two-step enzymatic process and maintained at millimolar concentrations in most cell types. It functions as the primary cellular antioxidant by donating electrons to neutralise reactive oxygen species, being oxidised in the process to glutathione disulphide (GSSG), which is reduced back to GSH by glutathione reductase using NADPH. Preclinical research has used cell culture and animal models to study glutathione's roles in protecting cellular components from oxidative damage, detoxifying reactive electrophiles through glutathione-S-transferase reactions, and regulating immune cell function.

In preclinical liver research, glutathione has been extensively studied as a central determinant of hepatocellular resistance to oxidative and xenobiotic injury. Liver cells contain particularly high glutathione concentrations, and preclinical hepatotoxicity models have used glutathione depletion and supplementation approaches to characterise the protective roles of GSH in hepatocyte survival under toxic challenge conditions.