The effects of representative surfactants on the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae WSH-J701 and glutathione (GSH) production
were studied. The anionic surfactant sodium dedecyl sulfate (SDS) and the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide
(CTAB) had critical inhibitory concentrations of 0.5 and 0.025 g/l, respectively, to cell growth during cultivation. Above these
concentrations, cell growth was greatly inhibited or even ceased. Nonionic surfactants such as polyoxyethylene lauryl ether (Brij30)
and polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate (Tween80) could also affect cell growth only when their concentrations reached much
higher levels. Under the critical concentration, SDS and CTAB increased the extracellular GSH concentration by 10 and 15%, but
above this level, they improved extracellular GSH concentration by 35 and 60%, respectively. Otherwise, total GSH concentration
and intracellular GSH content decreased slightly. The effect of Brij30 was somewhat like ionic surfactants, extracellular GSH
concentration could be increased by 50% but the intracellular GSH content was reduced by 33%. Tween80 seemed to have no effect
on extracellular GSH accumulation, but total GSH concentration and intracellular GSH content decreased gradually by increasing
its concentration.