Changes in blood glutathione concentrations, and in erythrocyte glutathione reductase and glutathione S-transferase activity after running training and after participation in contests

Abstract

Previously sedentary men (n = 23) and women (n = 18) were trained to run a half marathon contest after 40 weeks. Total blood glutathione had increased by 20 weeks of training and had returned to normal after 40 weeks. Erythrocyte glutathione reductase activity had increased by 20 weeks and remained elevated after 40 weeks. This effect was accompanied by decreases in glutathione reductase coefficients, which indicated that increases in the presence of riboflavin may have been responsible for the changes in reductase activity. Erythrocyte glutathione S-transferase activity had increased slightly after 20 weeks of training and a much more marked increase was found after 40 weeks. This may have been indicative of the occurrence of lipid peroxidation in this phase of training. The participants ran a 15-km race after the first 20 weeks of training and a half marathon after 40 weeks. Blood glutathione tended to decrease after the 15-km race and increased after the half marathon. In both cases it had returned to normal values 5 days after the race. Erythrocyte glutathione reductase was elevated 1 day after the races, and had returned to normal after 5 days. This could also have been explained from concurrent changes in the riboflavin content of the erythrocytes. Erythrocyte glutathione S-transferase activity decreased after both races, but was restored 5 days after the half marathon while such was not the case after the 15-km race.

Antioxidant Enzymes in Rheumatoid Arthritis

“…Feijoo et al [52] observed that myeloperoxidase levels are elevated in patients with chronic inflammatory disease, especially those with active disease, and that high myeloperoxidase levels are related to an increase in oxidative damage and the inflammatory response, for myeloperoxidase and GR seem to show a similar activity pattern based on the availability of NADPH. Erythrocyte GSH and glutathione reductase levels rise in healthy individuals exposed to chronic oxidative stress [53]. These findings suggest that GSH levels may be inappropriate in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis, perhaps reflecting impaired glutathione reductase activity as observed in our study.…”

Exercise and oxidative stress: Sources of free radicals and their impact on antioxidant systems

“…GR activity has been shown to increase in rat skeletal muscle after an acute bout of exercise along with increased GPX activity (29,74). Also, erythrocyte GR activity was reported elevated after prolonged exercise in humans (123,124). It is interesting to note that GSH depletion with BSO treatment resulted in a 2.5-fold increase in GR activity in mouse liver, whereas GPX activity was severely hampered (73).…”

“…Oxidative Stress and An#oxidants in Exercise prolonged exercise (123), and liver GST is reportedly induced by endurance training (72,126). Reddy et al (127) recently showed that 4 months of swim training significantly increased hepatic GST activity in rats and that the induction was caused by an upregulation of certain GST subunits, particularly Ya 1 (4-fold), which displays the highest peroxidase activity.…”

Hormesis and Exercise: How the Cell Copes with Oxidative Stress

“…Plasma and erythrocyte GSH contents have been shown to increase significantly after physical training in human [61][62][63] . Like GSH, thioredoxin (TRX) glutaredoxin and peroxiredoxin play an important role in controlling cellular redox status by reducing protein and nonprotein disulfides, removing peroxides and facilitating other cellular functions [64] .…”