Glutathione

Mechanism (as reported)

Across the provided studies, glutathione is used in GSH-responsive designs where elevated intracellular GSH is associated with cleavage of disulfide bonds, leading to disassembly/restructuring and downstream cargo release or functional changes (PMIDs: 41419146, 31851512, 38477386, 31728594, 39173226). In fluorescence sensor studies, GSH is reported to restore fluorescence through binding interactions involving Cu2+ and GSH sulfhydryl groups (PMIDs: 31728594, 38286599).

Key findings (each cites a source)

• A study reported development of a glutathione-responsive self-assembling peptide that coated Salmonella typhimurium and was designed to disassemble via disulfide bond cleavage in a reductive tumor microenvironment with elevated GSH levels, enabling controlled bacterial release at tumor sites. (PMID: 41419146) [PMID 41419146]
• A study reported a reduced glutathione-responsive peptide nanofiber drug delivery system that transformed from three-dimensional micelles into one-dimensional nanofibers, with micelles described as degrading in response to high GSH levels to achieve more release and accumulation of doxorubicin at desired sites. (PMID: 31851512) [PMID 31851512]
• A study reported an injectable chitosan hydrogel system containing a two-dimensional peptide nanosheet-drug conjugate (PNS-SS-DOX) where a disulfide bond was described as responsive to intracellular glutathione (GSH) in tumor cells, enabling controlled drug release and inhibition of cancer cell growth. (PMID: 38477386) [PMID 38477386]
• A study reported a peptide-based fluorescent sensor (FP) designed to bind Cu2+ to trigger fluorescence quenching and described that fluorescence could be restored by GSH due to strong binding between Cu2+ and GSH sulfhydryl groups, enabling imaging of GSH in vitro and in vivo with low toxicity. (PMID: 31728594) [PMID 31728594]
• A study reported a ligand reaction-based fluorescent peptide probe (TGN) for selective detection of Cu2+ and that significant fluorescence recovery occurred after addition of GSH, with the probe described as detecting Cu2+ and GSH concurrently and with reported low biotoxicity and high cell permeability for live cell imaging. (PMID: 38286599) [PMID 38286599]
• A study reported that glutathione in combination with cultivation (seven days of glutathione treatment) was used to induce bioflocculation of Chlorella pyrenoidosa, achieving reported flocculation efficiency after settling and describing changes in nutrient composition and extracellular polymeric substances in flocs compared with control. (PMID: 36252754) [PMID 36252754]
• A study reported coupling structures designed to enhance GSH transdermal absorption using a transdermal enhancer peptide (TD1), with results including reported melanin synthesis inhibition in cell models and reduced pigmentation in guinea pig and zebrafish pigmentation models, and reported transdermal penetration measurements using electric two-photon microscopy. (PMID: 39173226) [PMID 39173226]
• A study reported synthesis of linalool-loaded gold nanoparticles capped with glutathione and conjugated with a CALNN peptide, and investigated apoptosis-related effects in SKOV-3 cells, reporting antiproliferative effects and described apoptosis induction with associated markers/pathways in the experimental context. (PMID: 33235450) [PMID 33235450]