African Journal of
Pharmacy and Pharmacology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Pharm. Pharmacol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0816
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJPP
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 2274

Full Length Research Paper

Oxidation of glutathione (GSH) in blood plasma due to oxidative stressors: A case study of silver

Haroon Khan1, M. Farid Khan1, Barkat Ali Khan2,3*, Abdul Wahab2, Syed Umer Jan4, Muhammad Mukhtair1, Naseem Ullah1, Naheed Haque4 and Arshad Farid5
1Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gomal University, D. I. Khan, Pakistan. 2Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gomal University, D. I. Khan, Pakistan. 3Faculty of Pharmacy and Alternative Medicine, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. 4Department of Pharmacy, University of Baluchistan, Quetta, Pakistan. 5Gomal Center of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Gomal University, D. I. Khan KPK, Pakistan.
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 07 May 2012
  •  Published: 08 June 2012

Abstract

The widespread use of silver went out of fashion with the development of modern antibiotics. However, recently, there has been renewed interest in silver as a broad spectrum antimicrobial. The toxicity of silver to human cells is considerably lower than that of bacteria. Silver itself is nontoxic, but most silver salts are, and some of them are to be carcinogenic and may lead to death. That is why the effect of silver on glutathione (GSH) level is interesting to study. The following study was carried out to find out if the effect on GSH level in plasma was studied spectrophotometrically using Ellman’s method. Two parameters concentration and time effect of silver was used to determined GSH level in plasma. This study shows that when the concentration of silver was increased and time of incubation extended, a depletion of GSH level in plasma was found. The decline in the GSH level was concentration and time of interaction dependent; due to oxidation of reduced GSH to corresponding oxidize GSH (GSSG) or due to the formation of silver GSH complex (Ag-GS). From this finding, we can conclude that GSH plays an important role in the detoxification and management of silver induced complications and toxicity.

 

Key words: Silver (Ag), 5, 5-dithiobis, 2, nitrobenzoic acid (DTNB), Ellman’s method, glutathione (GSH).