Protective role of intracellular glutathione against ethanol-induced damage in cultured rat gastric mucosal cells.

This study investigated whether intracellular glutathione is cytoprotective against ethanol-induced injury to cultured rat gastric mucosal cells in vitro. Secondly, it investigated whether reduced glutathione or oxidized glutathione is responsible for this cytoprotection. Cytolysis was quantified by measuring 51Cr release from prelabeled cells. Concentrations of ethanol greater than 12% caused cell damage and increased 51Cr release in a dose-dependent and time-related fashion. When a substrate for glutathione synthesis, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, was provided to cultured cells for 4 h before challenge with ethanol, cytolysis was significantly decreased corresponding with an increase in cellular glutathione content. Pretreatment with diethyl maleate, which depletes reduced glutathione without forming oxidized glutathione, potentiated ethanol-induced cell damage in a dose-dependent manner with the decrease of cellular glutathione content. The administration of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (which is specifically reduced by glutathione peroxidase to generate oxidized glutathione from reduced glutathione) or diamide (which nonenzymatically oxidizes reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione) enhanced ethanol injury. We conclude that in cultured gastric mucosal cells, (a) intracellular glutathione maintains integrity of gastric mucosal cells against ethanol in vitro; and (b) reduced glutathione rather than oxidized glutathione is responsible for this cytoprotection. We postulate that the presence of reduced glutathione is essential to allow glutathione peroxidase to catalyze the ethanol-generated toxic oxygen radical, hydrogen peroxide.