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Hemin-mediated hemolysis in erythrocytes: effects of ascorbic acid and glutathione

Shu-De Li1, Yan-Dan Su, Ming Li

  • 1School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China.

Acta Biochimica Et Biophysica Sinica
|January 6, 2006
PubMed

In the present work, we investigated the effect of ascorbic acid and glutathione on hemolysis induced by hemin in erythrocytes. Ascorbic acid not only enhanced hemolysis, but also induced formation of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances in the presence of hemin. It has been shown that glutathione inhibits hemin-induced hemolysis by mediating hemin degradation. Erythrocytes depleted of glutathione became very sensitive to oxidative stress induced by hemin and ascorbic acid. H(2)O(2) was involved in hemin-mediated hemolysis in the presence of ascorbic acid. However, a combination of glutathione and ascorbic acid was more effective in inhibiting hemolysis induced by hemin than glutathione alone. Extracellular and intracellular ascorbic acid exhibited a similar effect on hemin-induced hemolysis or inhibition of hemin-induced hemolysis by glutathione. The current study indicates that ascorbic acid might function as an antioxidant or prooxidant in hemin-mediated hemolysis, depending on whether glutathione is available.

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