Acrylonitrile depletes glutathione without changing calcium sequestration in hepatic microsomes and mitochondria.

Acrylonitrile administered either in vivo or in vitro reduced the level of non-protein thiols, GSH and GSSG in rat liver (in vivo) and liver microsomes (in vitro). It neither influenced protein thiols nor calcium sequestration in the microsomes and mitochondria. The fact that the GSSG level was not increased indicates that a mere unoxidative depletion of GSH does not lead to impaired hepatocyte Ca homeostasis, which has been associated with decreased GSH:GSSG ratio. An opposite effect was caused by CCl4 which did not considerably change the protein and non-protein SH, but strongly decreased microsomal calcium sequestration.