Page 152 - The Miraculous Machine that Works for an Entire Lifetime: Enzyme
P. 152

Harun Yahya






               other than the active site. This neutralizes

               the enzyme because inhibitor binding
               changes the enzyme's tertiary structure
               and the substrate's affinity for the ac-
               tive site is reduced. However, non-
               competitive inhibitors do not
               eliminate all of an enzyme's activ-
               ity; they only decrease it.
                   Penicillin is an excellent
               example of this. By inhibiting
               the enzymes that bacteria need     Inhibitors inactivate enzymes by bind-
                                                  ing to them. Reactions that need to be
               to make their cell walls, it caus-  halted, and drugs that inhibit enzymes
               es the bacteria to burst. 87       that cause diseases, both act by way of
                                                  enzyme inhibitors.
                   Various drugs have been
               manufactured according to the

               enzyme-inhibition system. These drugs work by inhibiting the action of
               enzymes that bacteria or viruses need, prevent them from spreading,
               and thus prevent many diseases from becoming any worse. In treat-
               ments for HIV, the most successful developments to date are the result
                                             88
               of the use of enzyme inhibitors. Some cancers can also be prevented
               by identifying the enzymes that benefit them and developing the ap-
               propriate inhibitors.
                   Apart from surgery, all fields of medicine are in some way related
               to enzymes. Dr. Joseph Kraut, who works on models of enzymes mag-
               nified 200 million times, summarizes this:
                   Did you take an aspirin? You may bet that aspirin molecules will go and
                   stimulate an enzyme. This will accelerate or slow down the work of an
                   enzyme and guess what happens next. How quickly! Your headache has
                   already gone. 89

                   Enzyme-inhibitor molecules must exist in the same environment
               as enzymes, because under certain circumstances, the way they put a





                                              150
   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157