Glyteine® is a proprietary form of the dipeptide gamma-glutamylcysteine, which is the immediate precursor to the tripeptide, glutathione.
As the immediate precursor to glutathione, Glyteine® is the only nutrient with proven clinical bioavailability to take glutathione well beyond homeostasis within hours of taking a single dose [1].
Glutathione is essential to all life that uses oxygen to meet their energy requirements, which is just about everything. Key roles of glutathione include neutralizing free radicals such reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced in the mitochondria and recycling other antioxidants such as Vitamin C. If your cells lose the capacity to make glutathione or are exposed to extreme levels of free radicals, they will enter oxidative stress and suffer oxidative damage which will manifest as symptoms and potentially cell death [2,3].
Mice that have been genetically engineered to not produce glutamate-cysteine ligase (GCL), which is the enzyme responsible for forming cellular Glyteine®, do not develop beyond the embryo stage and die before birth [4]. This is because Glyteine® is vital for the biosynthesis of glutathione [5]. Since the production of cellular Glyteine® in humans slows down with age, it has been postulated that supplementation with Glyteine® could offer health benefits. Other benefits of Glyteine® supplementation may extend to situations where glutathione has been acutely lowered below optimum. These include strenuous exercise, during trauma, episodes of poisoning, exposure to toxins or other events that result in oxidative stress.
Several review articles have been published regarding the potential benefits of Glyteine® to replenish glutathione in age-related [6] and chronic diseases [7]. Glyteine® is also a powerful antioxidant in its own right [8,9].
A human clinical study in healthy, non-fasting adults demonstrated that orally administered Glyteine® can significantly increase lymphocyte glutathione levels above basal levels, indicating systemic bioavailability, suggesting it may have therapeutic value in addressing glutathione related conditions [1].
Numerous animal model and in vitro studies have also confirmed that Glyteine® can increase cellular glutathione, which is associated with alleviating oxidant stress-induced damage in tissues [10-14]
Glyteine® (gamma-glutamylcysteine) is the immediate precursor to glutathione. During ageing and in many chronic conditions, cells in our body lose the capacity to make enough Glyteine® to maintain sufficient levels of cellular glutathione to fight off oxidative stress and/or our cells become exposed through illness to increased streams of oxidative stress inducing free radicals. Glyteine® synthesis inside every cell is catalyzed by the enzyme glutamate cysteine ligase (GCL). When our cells are at their programed levels of glutathione (homeostasis) glutathione interacts with the GCL enzyme to turn it off and stop the production of Glyteine® and consequently stop production of glutathione. During aging, this homeostatic regulation often becomes dysfunctional, where cells still make glutathione but not enough to protect them against oxidative stress.
Oral and injected glutathione supplements cannot overcome this homeostasis deficiency within cells. Once entered into the blood stream, glutathione by itself cannot enter cells. It must be first broken down into its three amino acid components, glutamate, cysteine, and glycine which can help cells maintain homeostasis but not exceed it, and exceeding homeostasis is what is needed for health benefits.
On the other hand, orally administered Glyteine®, which is the product of the GCL, can enter cells intact and, once inside, will be converted to glutathione by the second synthesis enzyme, glutathione synthase. This means Glyteine® is uniquely positioned to bypass the regulation system for glutathione homeostasis. This may provide some transient relief to oxidative stress that may help cells affected by a damaged GCL recover and regain their healthy physiological function.
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