Small molecule-enzyme receptor interaction

Several modifications of MALDI have been developed to couple additional sampling and reaction capabilities to this technique. Surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization (SELDI) is one type of modified MALDI and describes an ionization process that involves reacting a sample with an enhanced surface. With SELDI, the sample interacts with a surface modified with some chemical functionality prior to laser desorption ionization and mass analysis. For example, an analyte could bind with receptors or affinity media on the surface, and be selectively captured and sampled by laser desorption. A SELDI surface can be modified for chemical (hydrophobic, ionic, immunoaffinity) or biochemical (antibody, DNA, enzyme, receptor) interactions with the sample. This technique can act as another dimension of separation or sample cleanup for analytes in complex matrices. As discussed before, one disadvantage of MALDI is that the matrix (usually a substituted cinnamic acid) that is mixed with the sample can directly interfere with the analysis of small molecules. There have been several areas of research to overcome this issue.Direct ionization on silicon (DIOS) is an example of a modification of MADLI that eliminates the matrix. In this case, analytes are captured on a silicon surface prior to laser desorption and ionization. Other examples of matrix-free laser desorption techniques include the use of siloxane or carbon-based polymers. 

FIGURE 6.28 Different types of bioresponsive hydrogels that change properties in response to (I) small molecules via receptor/ligand interactions (II) (ceU-secreted) enzymes via cleavable linkers and (III) small molecules that are convated by immobilized enzymes. The macroscopic response (sweUing/coUapse of the hydrogel) is shown. Source Ulijn et al. [113]. Reproduced with permission of Elsevier. 

The general types of protein-protein interactions that occur in cells include receptor-ligand, enzyme-substrate, multimeric complex formations, structural scaffolds, and chaperones. However, proteins interact with more targets than just other proteins. Protein interactions can include protein-protein or protein-peptide, protein-DNA/RNA or protein-nucleic acid, protein-glycan or protein-carbohydrate, protein-lipid or protein-membrane, and protein-small molecule or protein-ligand. It is likely that every molecule within a cell has some kind of specific interaction with a protein. 

Acetylcholine is a relatively small molecule that is responsible for nerve-impulse transmission in animals. As soon as it has interacted with its receptor and triggered the nerve response, it must be degraded and released before any further interaction at the receptor is possible. Degradation is achieved by hydrolysis to acetate and choline by the action of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which is located in the synaptic cleft. Acetylcholinesterase is a serine esterase that has a mechanism similar to that of chymotrypsin (see Box 13.5). 

In principle, various targets for therapeutic intervention exist. A successful drug can interact with viral receptors, virally encoded enzymes, viral structural components, viral genes or transcripts, or cellular factors required for viral replication. In recent years, attention has been given to small molecules that can target viral-specific RNA sites and prevent the formation of key RNA-protein and RNA-RNA complexes. Aminoglycoside antibiotics have provided the impetus for this approach as discussed below. 

Simple mathematical calculations by the first pharmacologists in the 1930s indicated that structurally specific drugs exert their action in very small doses and do not act on all molecules of the body but only on certain ones, those that constitute the drug receptors. For example, Clark [407] calculated that ouabain applied to the cells of the heart ventricle, isolated from the toad, would cover only 2.5% of the cellular surface. These observations prompted Clark [407,408] to apply the mathematical approaches used in enzyme kinetics to the effects of chemicals on tissues, and this formed the basis of the occupancy theory for drug-receptor interaction. Thus, pharmacological receptor models preceded accurate knowledge of receptors by many years. 

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