Drugs That Inhibit Enzymes

By Author: Isabella Evans
Total Articles: 11
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Many diseases or at least symptoms of diseases arise from a deficiency or excess of a specific metabolite in the body, from the infestation of a foreign organism, or from abnormal cell growth.

As you have heard from your private tutor in Brisbane, A metabolite is a chemical substance in the body that is the product of change or breakdown of another substance by the body's chemical “machinery”.

If the metabolic deficiency or excess can be normalized, and if the foreign organisms and abnormal cell growth can be destroyed, then the disease states will be remedied. All of these situations can be affected by specific enzyme inhibition.

If a disease results in deficiency of a substrate for a target enzyme, inhibition of that enzyme would prevent degradation of that particular substrate, thereby increasing its concentration. For an example think of a person who is suffering from onset of Seizures, which arises from deficiency of GABA levels in the brain. Inhibition of the enzyme which degrades GABA (GABA aminotransferase) will normalize the condition.

If there is an excess of a metabolite which causes ...
... the disease, the inhibition of the enzyme which catalyzes the biosynthesis of that metabolite would diminish the concentration of that metabolite. For an example, prostaglandins will cause swellings and the inhibition of the enzyme, prostaglandin synthase will normalize the condition. Recall your Biology lessons with your tutor in Adelaide about the functions of prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are important hormones that are involved in inflammation and fever.

In case of bacteria or parasites, blocking of an enzyme in the bacteria or the parasite, which is responsible for some important metabolic pathway can inhibit the growth or the replication of the organism or the abnormal cell.

Enzyme inhibition is a promising approach for the rational discovery of new drugs. Although there are a number of drugs that exert their therapeutic action by inhibiting specific enzymes, the mechanisms of action of most of the drugs were determined subsequent to the discovery of the therapeutic properties of the drugs.

An ideal enzyme target in a foreign organism or a cell with an abnormal growth would be one which is essential for its growth but which either non-essential for human health or even better not even present in humans. This type of selective toxicity would destroy only foreign organism or the abnormal cell and it would not require the careful administration of drugs that is necessary when the inhibited enzyme is important to human metabolism as well. Penicillin, which inhibits the bacterial peptidoglycan transpeptidase essential for the biosynthesis of the bacterial cell wall, is non toxic to humans.

If you would like to read more about the researches on drugs you can read the articles published by the National Drug Research Institute of Australia.

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