Electrochemical oxidation of Mefenamic acid in the absence and presence of glutathione and N-acetylcysteine

Electrochemical methods are widely used for studies on pharmaceutical composition. Mefenamic acid is an anti-inflammatory drug that is used to treat moderate pain and menstrual pain, toothache. It is widely available and present in many prescription and non-prescription medications. The results of a literature survey show that mefenamic acid is metabolized in the body. The product of mefenamic acid oxidation is extremely toxic to the liver. However, under normal conditions product of oxidation is rapidly detoxified by reaction with glutathione. But, in an overdose, cellular glutathione is depleted in the availability of product oxidation cause liver and kidney damage. Mefenamic acid poisoning is treated with N-acetylcysteine. N-acetylcysteine prevents hepatic injury primarily by restoring hepatic glutathione. N-acetylcysteine, which is also a sulfhydryl compound, is thought to act by facilitating hepatic glutathione synthesis or by acting as an alternate substrate for the reaction with the product oxidation. Electrochemical oxidation of mefenamic acid has been studied in presence of glutathione and N-acetylcysteine. Contrary to the previous about mefenamic acid, our results show that product oxidation consumes glutathione stores by catalytic oxidation of it.