Possible Interaction: Melatonin and Buthionine Sulfoximine

“In addition, cell cycle analysis showed that melatonin increases the number of … in the G0/G1 phase; however, treatment of the cells with buthionine sulfoximine , a specific inhibitor of gamma-GCS, abolished the effect of melatonin on the cell cycle, suggesting induction of cell arrest by melatonin requires GSH.”

“In this study, using the estrogen receptor (ER)-positive human breast tumor … have shown that 10 microM L-buthionine-[S,R]-sulfoximine L-BSO ), an inhibitor of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (the rate-…), blocks the oncostatic action of 1 nM melatonin over a 5-day incubation, … required for melatonin action.”

“To determine whether the inhibitory effect of melatonin on the growth of the cervical cancer cells was linked to intracellular glutathione concentrations, experiments were performed in which intracellular glutathione levels were depressed by the addition of buthionine sulfoximine to the incubation medium 24 h before the addition of melatonin.”

“After MEL administration, the oxidant and pro-apoptotic effects of BSO and GLUT were totally counteracted.”

“ MEL not only restored but also prevented the inhibition of the chick intestinal Ca(2+) absorption produced by either MEN or BSO.”

“In rats that received both BSO and melatonin , the incidence of cataracts was highly significantly decreased, i.e., only 3 of 18 rats (7%) had observable cataracts.”