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Atorvastatin is a cholesterol lowering drug whose mechanism of action is the inh

ID: 64807 • Letter: A

Question

Atorvastatin is a cholesterol lowering drug whose mechanism of action is the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase. If a patient takes a 10.0 mg dose of atorvastatin, what is the concentration of atorvastatin in the blood? Assume the patient has 5.0 L of blood. The molecular weight of atorvastatin is 559

Atorvastatin is a competitive inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase with a Ki of 7.5 × 10-3 ?M. What fraction of the enzyme will have a bound substrate under the conditions described above? Assume the concentration of HMG-CoA is 15 ?M, and the KM for HMG-CoA reductase is 1.4 ?M.

After a period of time, all but 0.10% of the atorvastatin in the blood is metabolized. What fraction of the enzyme will have bound substrate under these conditions?

Explanation / Answer

Answer

                                                                                                                = 10 * 10-3g

Its concentration can be calculated by using the number of moles.

Therefore, number of moles of the inhibitor = mass / molecular weight

                                                                      = 10 * 10-3 / 559

                                                                      = 0.01788 *10-3 moles.

Given volume of solution (blood) = 5 liters.

Therefore, concentration of the inhibitor = number of moles / volume of solution

                                                                 = 0.01788 *10-3 / 5

                                                                = 0.0035778 moles/lit

2. Given, inhibitor is Atorvastatin, I

Substrate is HMG-CoA, S

Enzyme is HMG-CoA reductase, E

The given concentration of substrate is 15

The calculated concentration of inhibitor is 0.0035778 moles/lit

Given Km for the enzyme is 1.4

for the enzyme is 7.5*10-3 microM

There will be an apparent Km value for an enzyme in presence of a competitive inhibitor.

This can be calculated as follows:

= 1.4 (1+ 0.0035778 / 7.5*10-3)

= 1.4 *103 microM

From this apparent Km, the fraction of enzyme bound substrate can be calculated using the formula,

Fes = [s] / [s] + Km

= 15 / (15 + 1.4) *103

= 0.914*10-3 = 0.000914%

Therefore, 0.914*10-3 th portion of the available enzyme is bound to the substrate.

3. After a period of time, all the inhibitor is metabolized except 0.10% . That means only 0.1% inhibitor is available. This alters app. Km and fraction of the enzyme bound substrate.

Therefore, [I] = 0.0035778 * 0.1 /100

= 0.0035778 * 10-3

Km app = 0.0035778 * 10-3 / 7.5*10-3)

= 1.4006 microM

= 0.9146 %