A Study of in vitro Scavenging Reactions of Acrylamide with Glutathione Using Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A combination of electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry was used to characterize the scavenging reactions of acrylamide (AA) in the presence of glutathione (GSH) in vitro. In the presence of GSH, AA was deactivated effectively and scavenged by reactions consuming small amount of GSH. Reaction products and structural information were identified using collision-induced dissociation (CID) in an ion trap mass spectrometer. In the mixture of GSH and AA, significant increase in abundance of fragment ion peak was observed at m/z 233, which was identified as $[Cys-Glu]^+$, formed by the elimination of glycine moiety of GSH. GSH also contributes to the AA scavenging reaction by conjugating with AA through the sulfhydryl group in cysteine moiety. The probable scavenging reaction pathway of AA in the presence of GSH has been proposed based on the CID experimental data.