Yantiri F, Gasparyan A, Andersen J K
Division of Neurogerontology, Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
J Neurosci Res. 2001 Apr 15;64(2):203-6. doi: 10.1002/jnr.1066.
Glutathione (GSH) is considered one of the primary antioxidant compounds in the brain, important for the removal of peroxides from this organ. GSH levels have been reported to be significantly lower in the substantia nigra (SN) of Parkinson patients vs. age-matched controls. Curiously, GSH has been proposed to be present in brain astrocytes rather than in neurons even though these cells are not lost in Parkinson disease. We report that the catalytic and regulatory subunit proteins of glutamyl cysteine synthetase (GCS), the primary enzyme involved in GSH synthesis, are present not only in astrocytes but also in dopaminergic neurons of the SN. This may have important implications in terms of GSH loss associated with Parkinson disease.
谷胱甘肽（GSH）被认为是大脑中主要的抗氧化化合物之一，对清除该器官中的过氧化物很重要。据报道，帕金森病患者黑质（SN）中的GSH水平显著低于年龄匹配的对照组。奇怪的是，尽管这些细胞在帕金森病中不会丢失，但有人提出GSH存在于脑星形胶质细胞而非神经元中。我们报告称，谷氨酸半胱氨酸合成酶（GCS）是参与GSH合成的主要酶，其催化亚基和调节亚基蛋白不仅存在于星形胶质细胞中，也存在于SN的多巴胺能神经元中。这可能对与帕金森病相关的GSH损失具有重要意义。
