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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Spectrophotometric Screening for Potential Inhibitors of Cytosolic Glutathione S-Transferases
Published on: October 10, 2020
Acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity in a glutathione synthetase-deficient patient
Ayşegül Tokatli1, H Serap Kalkanoğlu-Sivri, Aysel Yüce
1Unit of Nutrition and Metabolism, Department of Pediatrics, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Abstract:
We report a patient with glutathione synthetase (GS) deficiency who developed acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity after a two-day treatment with regular doses of acetaminophen. A nine-month-old female was referred because of intractable metabolic acidosis. She was given acetaminophen at therapeutic doses over a 48-hour period. She was hospitalized because of confusion and metabolic acidosis. Liver function tests were abnormal with normal bilirubin levels. The urine gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) showed massive excretion of 5-oxoproline. She improved and liver function tests normalized in the next six days, but compensated metabolic acidosis and massive 5-oxoprolinuria persisted. The analysis of GS in erythrocytes revealed 5% of normal enzyme activity, and the patient had 491G > A mutation on both alleles in the GS gene. In this report it can be assumed that patients, even if heterozygous for a mutation of the GS gene, are at risk for acetaminophen toxicity.
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