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Reduced-Oxidized Glutathione Status as a Potential Index of Oxidative Stress in Mature Cereal Grain

¹Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Div. of Food Science, Tuwima 10, 10-747 Olsztyn, PO Box 55, Poland. ²Corresponding author. Fax: 4889-524-01-24. E-mail: haziel@food.irzbz.pan.olsztyn.pl

The purpose of this study was to examine the reduced and oxidized glutathione status of selected cereal grains as a potential index of balance between oxidative stress and antioxidant systems, and the contribution of reduced glutathione to the total antioxidant status in cereal grain extracts. Wheat cultivars Almari and Henika, barley cultivars Gregor and Mobek, rye cultivar Dañkowskie Złote, oat cultivar Sławko, and buckwheat cultivar Kora were used. Total antioxidant status (TAS) was measured by the ABTS (2,2'-azinobis(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulphonate)) method. Contents of total phenolic compounds were also determined. Reduced (GSH) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) (γ-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glycine) were assayed using the spectrofluorimetric method, and results were confirmed by the enzyme recycling method. Correlation coefficient for the GSH/GSSG ratio was r = 0.79. Correlation between TAS and the total phenolic compound content was r = 0.81. Correlation between GSH/GSSG ratio and TAS values was r= 0.46, depending on the extraction system used. The GSH/GSSG ratio may indicate a hierarchy among different cultivars and variance of cereal grains against damage caused by reactive oxygen species. For the main water-soluble antioxidants, our data indicate a potential hierarchy of resistance in investigated cereals against oxidative stress (buckwheat > wheat > barley ≈ rye > oat). This hierarchy was confirmed by the ability of investigated cereal extracts to scavenge superoxide anion radicals in vitro. The reduced-oxidized glutathione status in different cereal grains can be applied as a potential index of balance between oxidative stress and antioxidant systems.