Enzyme Inhibition

• Enzyme inhibitors are molecules that have an altering effect on the active site of an enzyme
• Inhibitors reduce the activity of an enzyme and therefore the rate of any enzyme controlled reaction
• Permanent inhibition is when some inhibitors can bind so strongly to the enzyme that it can never be removed
• Temporary inhibitors can be either competitive or non-competitive
• Competitive inhibitors

  • bind directly to active site
  • similar in shape to substrates - complementary
• Non-competitive inhibitors

  • bind to a position other than the active site
  • their shape does not have to resemble the active site
  • changes shape of the active site
• Increasing the concentration of competitive inhibitors

  • more frequent collisions with enzymes
  • fewer enzyme-substrate complexes form