Counting the number of processes occurring in the human body is not so easy. And each of these processes requires the intervention of "super-regulators" that control it, establish the order of execution and speed up the processes. Each of the thousands of such super-regulators (enzymes of the human body) performs its own function: it helps in DNA replication, digestion of food, making chains of simple molecules, etc. Enzymes of the body maintain order within every living being, including humans.
Enzymes of the human body – why do we need them?
The body's enzymes are produced by mitochondria located in every cell. To a greater extent, they consist of proteins, the rest of them are vitamins and vitamin-like substances. If enzymes did not exist, the body could not function, or its functions would slow down almost to a complete stop. In any of these cases, we would simply die as a result of the inability to breathe or digest food.
Main The function of body enzymes is to start, stop and speed up various chemical reactions in the body. As the cells perform their functions, the chemicals in them enter into chemical reactions that require high temperatures to proceed. However, such temperatures are dangerous for cells and can even destroy them.
Enzymes in the body, which do not themselves react chemically, initiate and speed up chemical reactions without the need for high temperatures. For example, an enzyme that helps remove carbon dioxide from the blood keeps us from suffocating. Carbonic anhydrase (this is the name of this enzyme of the body) accelerates the process of removing carbon dioxide by 10 million times (in 1 minute, 36 million molecules undergo changes triggered by carbonic anhydrase).
What is the secret of the coordinated work of the body's enzymes?
Enzymes of the body speed up reactions as much as possible and at the same time extremely economically use the energy they receive from the body and nutrients. At the moment, enzymes are busy controlling the reactions taking place in your body and accelerating them to ensure the vital activity of the cells.
How enzymes "know" exactly when to intervene in reactions and accurately determine the need to speed up a particular reaction is not clear. For example, while many of the body's enzymes are effective in a neutral liquid environment, enzymes that break down food can only work in an acidic environment.
Why can body enzymes only initiate certain reactions?
All enzymes in the body are compatible with the substances they affect. Enzymes bind to a compatible substance, they fit it like a key to a lock. They seem to be waiting for their "second half" to appear. All enzymes are in their places, have a specific design and properties, moreover, they manage to avoid conditions in which they lose their effectiveness.
In the absence of interfering factors, enzymes start and speed up reactions in the body. This leads, for example, to an overproduction of a particular protein or to an imbalance within the cell. Thus, the cell regulates the activity of enzymes. To do this, it sends out a substance similar to that with which the enzyme normally binds, thus preventing unnecessary enzyme activity for a certain period of time. Such a process is called competitive inhibition (inhibition).
It's like the cell is taking inventory of what it needs, what it needs to get rid of.
The production of substances by the cell to divert the attention of the body's enzymes and its ability to send such substances at the right time – a great way to prevent excessive and untimely production of excess substances. Such cellular mechanisms are simply amazing!
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