Inhibition of superoxide dismutase, Vitamin C and glutathione on chemiluminescence produced by luminol and the mixture of sulfite and bisulfite.

In a system which consisted of luminol (3-aminophthalhydrazide), cobalt sulfate (CoSO4), alkaline buffer and the mixture of NaSO3 and sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3) (sulfite and bisulfite=3:1, m/m), a strong chemiluminescence (CL) was observed using a BPCL ultra-weak luminometer. The CL signals resulted from 3-aminophthalate (the product of oxidized luminol), and were affected by the buffer pH, buffer medium and the concentrations of luminol, CoSO4 and the NaSO3-NaHSO3 mixture. The observation that the CL intensities were inhibited by superoxide dismutase (SOD), Vitamin C (Vc) and glutathione (GSH) in a dose-dependent manner suggested that superoxide radical (O2*-) was involved in the CL reaction and responsible for oxidation of luminol.