Glyoxalase (GLO) (乙二醛酶)

The glyoxalase system is critical for the detoxification of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). AGEs are toxic compounds resulting from the non-enzymatic modification of biomolecules by sugars or their metabolites through a process called glycation. AGEs have adverse effects on many tissues, playing a pathogenic role in the progression of molecular and cellular aging.

The glyoxalase system consists of two cooperating enzymes named Glyoxalase 1 (Glo1) and Glyoxalase 2 (Glo2). Glo1 converts a non-enzymatically formed hemithioacetal, the adduct between an intracellular thiol such as glutathione (GSH) and a metabolically produced α-ketoaldehyde such as MG, into a thioester product . In the case of MG and GSH, S-D-lactoylglutathione is the product. Glo2 hydrolyzes this thioester into D-lactate and regenerates the intracellular thiol GSH. Glo1 and Glo2 work in tandem to convert cytoxic MG into D-lactate.