Inhibition of Alcohol Dehydrogenase Essay
ADH have been identified, and it has been shown that the nzyme has a rather broad substrate specificity and can oxidize aldehydes as well as primary and secondary alcohols. For example, ADH can also oxidize methanol (wood alcohol) and ethylene alcohol (antifreeze). The poisonous nature of these compounds results from the ADH-catalyzed conversion of these compounds to toxic products.
For example, ADH converts methanol to formaldehyde, which Is toxic to the optic nerve and can produce blindness. In high doses, formaldehyde may be fatal.
In this study, the authors investigated the ability of formamide compounds to inhibit alcohol dehydrogenase. Only a portion of their data is presented here. The authors were able to propose a mechanism for the inhibition from the extensive data they collected using a wide variety of formamide compounds. The mechanism is shown in Figure 13. Inhibition of Alcohol Dehydrogenase Essay.
2. Figure 13. 1 : ADHcatalyzed oxidation of ethanol. Figure 13.
2: Mechanism of ADHI . The inhibitor binds as an aldehyde analog. Questions 1 . Certain individuals are more sensitive to alcohol than others.
For example, women are more sensitive to alcohol than men-even when body weight and % body fat are taken into account, women become more intoxicated than men consuming an identical amount of alcohol.
1. Inhibition by pyridine of reduction of NAD by ethanol in the presence of yeast alcohol dehydrogenase was studied at 25° in 60mm-glycine buffer (K+, pH9·3). 2. The apparent Michaelis constant for ethanol increases linearly and that for NAD increases non-linearly with pyridine concentration. 3. Rates, v, observed in the presence of pyridine are lower than the values calculated from the effect of pyridine on the two apparent Michaelis constants and are described by the expression V/v={1+5·8[pyridine]}×{1+0·016(1+124 [pyridine)]/[EtOH]}×{1+0·00019(1+3·3[pyridine]+110 [pyridine]2)/[NAD]}. 4. Mixed inhibitor studies with pyridine and N1-methylnicotinamide chloride in 40mm-pyrophosphate buffer (Na+, pH8·2) indicated little interaction of pyridine with the `pyridinium site’ of the dehydrogenase (interaction constant, α, 2·1). 5. The possible competition of ethanol and pyridine for a zinc atom in the active centre of yeast alcohol dehydrogenase is discussed. Inhibition of Alcohol Dehydrogenase Essay.
Selective inhibitors of alcohol dehydrogenases could be useful for prevention of poisoning due to metabolism of alcohols, such as methanol or ethylene glycol, that lead to toxic products (Jacobsen and McMartin, 1997). Good inhibitors could also be used to study the physiological functions of the various isoenzymes of alcohol dehydrogenase and for therapeutic intervention after the metabolic roles of the enzymes are established. Although 4-methylpyrazole is a potent inhibitor of some of the liver alcohol dehydrogenases, it is not very effective against all of the human isoenzymes, and it is a competitive inhibitor against alcohol, which makes it less effective when the concentration of substrate alcohol is increased. Thus, we have been designing, synthesizing, and evaluating potentially specific inhibitors that are uncompetitive against varied concentrations of alcohols. The research has led to some selective inhibitors of human alcohol dehydrogenases and structure- function information about the specificities of the enzymes. Inhibition of Alcohol Dehydrogenase Essay.