What is it about?
The small molecular weight thiol (SMWT) L-glutathione (GSH) is known to play an important role in the metabolism of Hg2+ and CH3Hg+. Previous animal studies have shown that another AMWT - N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) - can significantly modulate the metabolism of these mercurials in animal studies, but the underlying bioinorganic chemistry of these results has remained elusive. NAC enhanced the excretion of CH3Hg+, but did not affect the excretion of Hg2+. To gain insight into the bioinorganic chemistry, we have employed reversed-phase (RP) HPLC coupled on-line to a mercury-specific detector. Using a mobile phase comprised of 5.0 mM GSH in PBS-buffer, the injection on both mercurials revealed single Hg-peaks. The retention times of both mercurials were increased when the concentration of NAC in the 5.0 mM GSH mobile phase was increased from 0.5 to 10 mM. This increased retention times of both mercurials was shown to be caused by the progressive coordination of mode hydrophobic NAC to the mercurials at near physiological conditions.
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Why is it important?
The results of these investigations provide the first bioinorganic explanation for phenomenological results that were previously obtained when animals that had been 'loaded' with each of these mercurials were then exposed to NAC in the drinking water.
Perspectives
The developed RP-HPLC approach can be applied to other toxic metal species and other SMWTs to gain new insight into their bioinorganic chemistry in mammalian cell cytosols.
Dr Juergen Gailer
University of Calgary
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: N-Acetylcysteine Displaces Glutathionyl-Moieties from Hg2+ and MeHg+ to Form More Hydrophobic Complexes at Near-Physiological Conditions, Molecules, September 2023, MDPI AG,
DOI: 10.3390/molecules28196762.
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