Interaction of Glutathione with Hydrogen Peroxide: A Kinetic Model

The kinetics of the interaction of glutathione (GSH) with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was studied. It was shown that the rate of GSH consumption nonlinearly depended on reactant concentrations and the process was accompanied by the appearance of radicals with a relatively low rate, which was a fraction of a percent of the rate of GSH consumption. Based on the experimental results and literature data on the reactions of GSH with H2O2 and thiyl radicals, a kinetic model of the complex interaction of GSH and H2O2 in an aqueous solution at 37°C was proposed. The model includes 15 quasi-elementary reactions with corresponding rate constants, including the formation of the intermediate complex GSH–H2O2 and its subsequent reactions with the formation of final products. Computer simulation based on the model developed satisfactorily described the reaction kinetics in a wide range of reactant concentrations.