With the development of enzyme research by medical scientists, the importance of enzymes in medicine is becoming more and more obvious, and their applications are becoming more and more widespread. The following three aspects are introduced.
1. The relationship between enzymes and certain diseases
The human body due to lack of enzymes and diseases caused by congenital or hereditary, such as albinism is due to tyrosine hydroxylase deficiency, serotonin disease or patients with sensitivity to primaquine is due to the lack of 6-phosphoglucose dehydrogenase. Many toxic diseases are almost always caused by the inhibition of certain enzymes. For example, when commonly used organophosphorus pesticides (e.g., trichlorfon, dichlorvos, 1059, and Rogaine) are poisoned, the enzymes are inactivated because they bind to an OH on the serine, an essential group in the active center of cholinesterase. Cholinesterase can catalyze the hydrolysis of acetylcholine into choline and acetic acid. When cholinesterase is inhibited and deactivated, the hydrolysis of acetylcholine is inhibited, resulting in the accumulation of acetylcholine and a series of poisoning symptoms, such as muscular tremor, narrowing of the pupils, excessive sweating, and slowing of heartbeat. Certain metal ions cause poisoning in human body, because metal ions (such as Hg2+) can be combined with the necessary groups of the active center of certain enzymes (such as cysteine -SH) and make the enzyme inactive.
2. Enzymes in the diagnosis of disease
Healthy people in the body enzyme activity is more stable, when the body of certain organs and tissues are damaged or disease, some of the enzymes are released into the blood, urine or body fluids. For example, in acute pancreatitis, serum and urinary amylase activity is significantly elevated; hepatitis and other causes of liver damage, hepatocellular necrosis or enhanced permeability, a large number of transaminases are released into the blood, so that serum transaminases are elevated; myocardial infarction, serum lactate dehydrogenase and phosphocreatine kinase is significantly elevated; when organophosphorus pesticide poisoning, cholinesterase activity is inhibited and serum cholinesterase activity decreases; certain hepatobiliary diseases. Especially when biliary obstruction, serum r-glutamyltransferase increases, and so on. Therefore, in medicine, with the help of urine, blood or body fluid enzyme activity measurement, can understand or determine the occurrence and development of certain diseases.
3. The application of enzymes in clinical treatment
With the development of science, enzyme therapy has been gradually recognized and widely valued, and a variety of enzyme preparations are more and more common in clinical application. Such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, etc., can catalyze the decomposition of proteins, this principle has been used in surgical expansion, purification of septic wounds and the treatment of thoracic and abdominal plasma membrane adhesions. In the treatment of myocardial infarction, thrombophlebitis, pulmonary infarction and diffuse intravascular coagulation, streptokinase, fibrinolytic enzyme, urokinase, etc., can be applied to dissolve blood clots and prevent the formation of thrombus.
Enzymes play a great role in medicine, and some coenzymes, such as coenzyme A, coenzyme Q, etc., can be used in the adjuvant treatment of the brain, heart, liver, kidney and other important organs. In addition, also use the principle of competitive inhibition of enzymes, synthesize some chemical drugs, antibacterial, bactericidal and anti-tumor treatment. For example, sulfonamides and many antimicrobial agents can inhibit the enzymes necessary for the growth of certain bacteria, so there are bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects; many antitumor drugs can inhibit the enzymes related to nucleic acid or protein synthesis within the cell, thereby inhibiting the differentiation and proliferation of tumor cells to fight against the growth of tumors; thioredoxin inhibits iodine enzyme, which affects the synthesis of thyroxin, and thus can be used for the treatment of hyperthyroidism and so on.