Enzymatic glutaredoxin-dependent method to determine glutathione and protein S-glutathionylation using fluorescent eosin-glutathione

Glutathione is an abundant low-molecular-weight thiol, up to 10 mM in mammalian cells, and exists in three major forms: reduced sulphydryl (GSH), glutathione disulfide (GSSG) or bound to Cys residues in proteins (PSSG). The ratio GSH/GSSG has been used as an indicator of the cells redox level but this parameter can also be estimated by the quantification of PSSG. In fact, PSSGs have the advantage of being more stable than GSSG. Here we present a highly sensitive fluorescent-based method for detection of low concentrations of glutathione in complex samples such as cell lysates, tissues and plasma. The method is based on our previously described protocol to study Glutaredoxin (Grx) activity. The whole procedure was optimized to measure the fluorescence increase of the di-eosin-glutathione disulfide (Di-E-GSSG) reduced by Grx in the presence of Glutathione Reductase and NADPH, keeping GSH as the limiting factor to drive the reaction. The methods to selectively measure PSSG are expensive and not widely accessible, therefore we optimized our glutaredoxin protocol to quantify this post-translational modification using common laboratory equipments. Overall, our method has simplicity and rapidity combined with high sensitivity as its main advantages; therefore, it may be particularly suitable for large-scale clinical studies.