Question

Succinylcholine is structurally almost identical to acetyicholine but if combined with the enzyme that normally hydrolyzes acetylcholine, the enzyme is no longer able to hydrolyze actylcholine. Explain

Answer 1

Answer:

Succinylcholine serves as competitive inhibitor of the enzyme responsible for hydrolysis of acetylcholine

Explanation:

Succinylcholine and acetylcholine are structurally almost same. The succinylcholine serves as a competitive inhibitor for the hydrolytic enzyme that breaks down the acetylcholine.

Succinylcholine binds to the active site of the enzyme. Since the active site of the enzyme is occupied by the competitive inhibitor, the substrate acetylcholine cannot bind to it and therefore, the reaction does not occur.

A competitive inhibitor of a reaction resembles the substrate and forms the enzyme-inhibitor (EI) complex to prevent catalysis.