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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2016 Jan 30;52:76–83. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2016.01.027

Fig 2.

Fig 2

Elevated expression of antioxidant enzymes drive robust GSH production in hPSCs. hPSCs express high levels of enzymes involved in GSH metabolism, including GPX2 and GSR. GPX2 catalyzes the reduction of hydrogen peroxide to water via the oxidation of GSH to GSSG. To refresh the GSH pool, GSR reduces GSSG to GSH through the oxidation of NADPH to NADP+. hPSCs have a high carbon flux through the PPP and low OXPHOS, which is at least partially due to high expression of UCP2 in hPSCs. The PPP produces NADPH which fuels glutathione metabolism. Low OXPHOS limits the ROS produced by the electron transport chain (ETC) of the mitochondrial inner membrane.