Certain chemicals or factors
inhibit or reduce the activities of enzyme. They are called enzyme inhibitors. Enzyme
action can be inhibited in four different ways: a) competitive inhibition b) Non
competitive inhibition c) Allosteric inhibition or feed back inhibition and d)
Denaturation of enzymes.
Enzyme inhibition caused by a
substance resembling substrate molecule through blocking its active site is
competitive inhibition. Non competitive inhibition occurs when the inhibitory
chemical, which does not have to resemble the substrate, binds to the enzyme
other than at the active site. Feed back inhibition is the most common
allosteric modulation. When the end products accumulate in the cell after
enzymatic activity, they inhibit their own production. Due to denaturation, the
molecular confirmation of the enzyme molecule will be lost there by they are
inhibited.