Hormones interaction with enzymes

Almost all diuretics exert their action at the luminal surface of the renal tubule cells. Their mechanism of action includes interaction with specific membrane transport proteins like thiazides, furosemide etc., osmotic effects which prevent the water permeable segments of the nephron from absorbing water like mannitol, and specific interaction with enzyme like carbonic anhydrase inhibitors i.e. acetazolamide, and hormone receptors in renal epithelial cells like spironolactone. 

It has been widely accepted that the mode of action of certain hormones is a direct interaction with enzymes. In the case of thyroid hormones, however, inconsistencies in the data are so fundamental that some investigators now seriously doubt whether a hormone-enzyme interaction does, indeed, represent their mechanism of action. J or hormonal activity to be exerted on enzymes, it has been assumed that the effect must be mediated through acceleration or inhibition of a pacemaker. The variety of enzymes affected by the in vim administration of thyroxine makes it most unlikely that altered activity of an appropriate pacemaker will, in fact, be demonstrated. Further, it has already been shown that many of the observed changes in enzyme activity are secondary to effects on vitamin metabolism, metal ions, or membranes. In addition, all the in vitro effects on enzymes have required for their demonstration concentrations of thyroxine... 

Beside coactivators so-called corepressors exist that are bound to transcription factors such as nuclear receptors and inhibit the initiation of transcription. These factors include the nuclear receptor corepressor (NCoR) and the silencing mediator of retinoic acid and thyroid hormone receptor (SMRT), which interact with nuclear receptors and serve as platforms for complexes containing histone deacetylases (HDACs). These enzymes cause the reversal of histone acetylation of histones leading to a tightening of chromatin and enhancing its inaccessibility for RNA polymerase containing complexes. 

Each cell is surrounded by a plasma membrane that separates the cytoplasmic contents of the cell, or the intracellular fluid, from the fluid outside the cell, the extracellular fluid. An important homeostatic function of this plasma membrane is to serve as a permeability barrier that insulates or protects the cytoplasm from immediate changes in the surrounding environment. Furthermore, it allows the cell to maintain a cytoplasmic composition very different from that of the extracellular fluid the functions of neurons and muscle cells depend on this difference. The plasma membrane also contains many enzymes and other components such as antigens and receptors that allow cells to interact with other cells, neurotransmitters, blood-borne substances such as hormones, and various other chemical substances, such as drugs. 

Diacylglycerol, on the other hand, is lipid soluble and remains in the lipid bilayer of the membrane. There it can activate protein kinase C (PKC), a very important and widely distributed enzyme which serves many systems through phosphorylation, including neurotransmitters (acetylcholine, a,- and P-adrenoceptors, serotonin), peptide hormones (insulin, epidermal growth hormone, somatomedin), and various cellular functions (glycogen metabolism, muscle activity, structural proteins, etc.), and also interacts with guanylate cyclase. In addition to diacylglycerol, another normal membrane lipid, phos-phatidylserine, is needed for activation of PKC. The DG-IP3 limbs of the pathway usually proceed simultaneously. 

The function of the target molecule may be critical or mncritical. Thus, if the target molecule is an enzyme, this could be involved in a crucial metabolic pathway, such as mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. In this case, an adverse interaction with the ultimate toxicant is likely to lead to cell dysfunction and possibly death (e.g., as with cyanide or salicylate). Chemicals such as methimazole and resorcinol, which are activated to free radical intermediates by thyroperoxidase, cause destruction of the enzyme. This then disturbs thyroid hormone synthesis and thyroid function with pathological consequences such as thyroid tumors. 

Biological interactions between molecules are stereo-specific the fit in such interactions must be stereo-chemically correct. The three-dimensional structure of biomolecules large and small—the combination of configuration and conformation—is of the utmost importance in their biological interactions reactant with enzyme, hormone with its receptor on a cell surface, antigen with its specific antibody, for example (Fig. 1-22). The study of biomolecular stereochemistry with precise physical methods is an important part of modem research on cell structure and biochemical function. 

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