Bovine lens aldose reductase (ALR2) is readily modified by glutathione disulphide (GSSG) to an enzyme form (GS-ALR2) exhibiting a reduced catalytic efficiency with all the substrates tested and a reduced susceptibility to inhibition. The modification, which is completely reversed by reduced glutathione (GSH) or dithiothreitol occurs by a pseudo-first-order process with respect to the enzyme and a second order rate constant of 30 +/- 0.1 mol-1 min-1 at 25 degrees C was determined. By measuring the residual activity of ALR2 incubated in different glutathione redox buffers at 25 degrees C, an apparent redox equilibrium constant of 1.4 +/- 0.1 was evaluated. Thus the rate and the maximal extent of ALR2 inactivation are proportional to the redox ratio of the thiol used as modifying agent (i.e. [GSH]/[GSSG]). The stoichiometric reversibility of the enzyme modification might be impaired by a reduced solubility of GS-ALR2 with respect to ALR2 and by an increased susceptibility of the modified enzyme to proteolysis. While the native enzyme form is rather insensitive to proteolytic breakdown. GS-ALR2 is easily degraded by chymotrypsin with the generation of a peptide of 26 kDa with an aminoacid sequence at the aminoterminal side compatible with proteolysis at level of Tyr 7 of aldose reductase. A reduced efficiency in the enzyme-cofactor binding following the GSSG dependent modification of ALR2, appears to be associated to the thiol accessibility of GS-ALR2 measured at different temperatures. GS-ALR2 is characterized by the presence of one glutathione residue, linked through a mixed disulphide bond. This is sustained by: (i) the isoelectric point for the modified enzyme of 4.75, which is 0.1 pH units lower than that observed for the native enzyme, which indicates the contribution of an acidic residue to the pI of GS-ALR2; (ii) the incorporation of radioactivity coming from [3H] labelled GSSG accounting for the presence of one equivalent of glutathione per mole of enzyme. Besides being a general feature of protein reactivity in oxidative conditions, the glutathione-mediated ALR2 modification might be part of a cell strategy to preserve reducing power in conditions of oxidative stress.