Toxic metals cause substantial reduction in crop yields every year. Therefore, worldwide scientific efforts are being made to reduce such losses in crop productivity by using certain chemical protectants such as nutrients like sulfur (S), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), glutathione (GSH), etc. Therefore in this study, we have tested potential of additional S, along with probable involvement of H₂S and GSH in mitigating hexavalent chromium (CrVI) toxicity in tomato, pea and brinjal seedlings. Chromium (VI) decreased shoot and root length, endogenous H₂S, and cell viability due to greater Cr accumulation that led to cell death in roots. Chromium (VI) enhanced oxidative stress markers i.e. superoxide radical, hydrogen peroxide, lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation due to down-regulation in ascorbate-glutathione cycle. However, additional S reversed toxic effect of Cr(VI). Chromium (VI) slightly stimulated enzymes of glutathione biosynthesis. Besides this, the results also showed that addition of buthionine sulphoximine (BSO, synthetic inhibitor of glutathione biosynthesis) interestingly further enhanced Cr(VI) toxicity even in the presence of additional S. But this effect of BSO was reversed by the addition of GSH. Interestingly, hydroxylamine (HA, synthetic inhibitor of cysteine desulfhydrase) had also further increased Cr(VI) toxicity even in the presence of additional S but sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS, an H₂S donor) reversed this effect. Furthermore, ameliorative behaviour of NaHS against Cr(VI) toxicity was reversed by the hypotaurine (HT, a H₂S scavenger). All together results suggested that additional S involved GSH and H₂S in mitigating Cr(VI) toxicity in studied vegetables, in which GSH acted downstream of H₂S signal.

有毒金属每年都会导致农作物减产。因此，世界范围内的科学努力正在通过使用某些化学保护剂来减少此类作物的生产力损失，例如硫（S），硫化氢（H ₂ S），谷胱甘肽（GSH）等营养素。因此，在本研究中，我们已经测试了额外的S的潜力，以及H ₂ S和GSH可能参与减轻番茄，豌豆和茄子幼苗的六价铬（CrVI）毒性。铬（VI）减少了芽和根长，内源性H ₂硫和细胞活力，因为大量的铬积累导致根部细胞死亡。由于抗坏血酸-谷胱甘肽循环的下调，铬（VI）增强了氧化应激标记，即超氧化物自由基，过氧化氢，脂质过氧化和蛋白质氧化。但是，其他S逆转了Cr（VI）的毒性作用。铬（VI）轻微刺激了谷胱甘肽生物合成的酶。除此之外，结果还表明添加丁硫氨酸亚砜亚胺（BSO，谷胱甘肽生物合成的合成抑制剂）有趣地进一步增强了Cr（VI）毒性，即使存在额外的S也是如此。但是通过添加GSH可以逆转BSO的这种作用。有趣的是，羟胺（HA，₂ S供体）逆转了这种效应。此外，次牛磺酸（HT，H ₂ S清除剂）可以逆转NaHS对Cr（VI）毒性的改善行为。所有共同的结果表明，在研究的蔬菜中，额外的S与GSH和H ₂ S有关，以减轻Cr（VI）的毒性，其中GSH在H ₂ S信号的下游起作用。