Reflections on biochemistry
On the discovery of glutathione

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Abstract

1988 is the 100th anniversary of de Rey-Pailhade's finding that yeast and other cells contain a substance that reacts spontaneously with elemental sulfur to give hydrogen sulfide. In 1921, Hopkins concluded that this substance is a dipeptide containing cysteine and glutamate. It thus seems an appropriate time to review some of the early studies which led to recognition of the structure of glutathione as l-γ-glutamyl-l-cysteinyl-glycine. Present knowledge of the biological functions of glutathione rests heavily on the important contributions of these and other pioneers, who worked during the period 1888 to 1936.

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