Glutathione (reduced form, GSH) is a gamma-linked tripeptide of glutamate, cysteine, and glycine and the most abundant low-molecular-weight thiol antioxidant in mammalian cells. With the molecular formula C10H17N3O6S and a molecular weight of 307.32 g/mol (CAS 70-18-8), it is present at millimolar concentrations in healthy tissue and participates in an unusually broad range of biochemical processes. The unusual gamma-glutamyl bond between glutamate and cysteine distinguishes it structurally from standard peptides.
Research on glutathione spans redox homeostasis, reactive-oxygen-species neutralization, xenobiotic and drug detoxification via conjugation, protein disulfide regulation, and immune-cell function. It serves as the central substrate of the glutathione peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase enzyme families and cycles between reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG) states to maintain cellular redox balance. This reduced L-glutathione is supplied for laboratory research use only.
gamma-L-Glutamyl-L-cysteinylglycine (gamma-Glu-Cys-Gly)
Research use only — not for human or animal consumption. Per-batch documentation is provided with the material.
Glutathione is among the most extensively studied endogenous small molecules in biochemistry. Research literature documents its function as the principal intracellular thiol buffer, its role as substrate for glutathione peroxidase in hydrogen-peroxide detoxification, its conjugation reactions with electrophiles via glutathione S-transferases, and its participation in protein S-glutathionylation as a post-translational redox modification.
The reduced form (GSH) is readily oxidized to the disulfide GSSG, and maintaining a high GSH/GSSG ratio is a widely used experimental index of cellular redox status. Material is provided as a research reagent only.
Glutathione was first isolated in 1888 and structurally characterized in the 1920s and 1930s, with Frederick Gowland Hopkins among the early investigators who identified it as a widespread cellular constituent. Its gamma-glutamyl tripeptide structure and central role in cellular redox biology have since made it one of the most-studied endogenous antioxidants in biochemistry.
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Cited literature refers to laboratory and preclinical research. Glutathione is supplied strictly for research use only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
