Even sodium thiosulfate
DMSO can be cryoprotectant (and isn’t great in large amounts, but sometimes has antioxidative properties)
and ofc all the allicins and garlic/onion/ginger compounds + GSH + …
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Short version: it makes proteins extra sulfur-y in a very specific, biologically useful way. Long version below, because biology refuses to be simple.
Persulfidation is a post-translational modification where a cysteine residue on a protein goes from
–SH → –SSH.
That extra sulfur atom looks tiny and innocent. It is not.
Here’s what sodium thiosulfate is doing when it boosts persulfidation:
1. It feeds the
reactive sulfur pool
Thiosulfate can be metabolized into reactive sulfur species including sulfane sulfur and hydrogen sulfide related intermediates. These are the currencies cells use to add that extra sulfur onto cysteines.
Think of it as giving cells sulfur LEGO bricks instead of raw sulfur ore. Much easier to build with.
2. Persulfidation changes protein behavior, not decoration
This modification is functional, not ornamental:
- Enzyme activity changes
- Some enzymes turn up
- Some turn down
- Some stop being suicidal under oxidative stress
- Ion channels and signaling proteins shift state
- Vascular tone regulation improves
- Smooth muscle relaxes more easily
- Redox sensitivity increases
- Persulfidated cysteines are less likely to be irreversibly oxidized
- That’s huge in tissues like the aorta where oxidative stress is nonstop
3. It’s basically sulfur-based antioxidant armor
Persulfidated cysteines:
- React faster with ROS
- Can be reduced back safely
- Act as sacrificial buffers instead of letting proteins get wrecked
So instead of “oxidation → permanent damage,” you get
“oxidation → reversible signaling event.”
Cells prefer that timeline.
4. Why the aorta specifically?
Because vascular tissue lives in a hostile environment:
- High oxygen
- Constant shear stress
- Tons of redox signaling
Increasing persulfidation there:
- Improves endothelial function
- Enhances NO signaling
- Reduces inflammation and stiffness
- Mimics some effects of endogenous H₂S signaling without dumping actual gas into the system like a maniac
5. Why thiosulfate instead of just giving H₂S?
Because:
- H₂S is volatile, hard to dose, and biologically chaotic
- Thiosulfate is stable, cheap, water-soluble
- It lets the cell decide where and when to make reactive sulfur