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If VX (a toxic agent) is given to a rabbit, typically would % Acetylcholinesterase (the target enzyme) inhibition drop very rapidly? Or would it taper off very slowly?

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What do you mean by enzyme inhibition? Which enzyme? What kind of toxic agent? – terdon Nov 26 '12 at 15:09
@terdon: estrerase inhibition. VX is the toxic agent. – Thoms Nov 26 '12 at 15:12
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Are you asking about the progress of enzyme inhibition, or the timecourse of any recovery (as implied by asking about a drop in % inhibition)? – Alan Boyd Nov 26 '12 at 15:35

closed as not a real question by leonardo, Alexander Galkin Nov 26 '12 at 20:56

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

VX is a Quasi-irreversible inhibitor of ACE meaning that after binding covalent bonds are created making dephosphorylation of ACE impossible. This would suggest to me that the function is not possible to restore. After inhibition of ACE by VX the ACE is permanently deactivated.

Irreversible inhibition does not typically use IC50 measures of the rate of inhibition. This means that the rate would very much depend on the concentration of the VX to the ACE target. However, a typical irreversible inhibitor would degrade target activity following exponential decay - i.e. dropping very rapidly and then tapering off slowly.

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The OP is asking about the rate of inhibition. Would it be immediate or occur gradually over a given length of time. – terdon Nov 26 '12 at 17:12

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