RESEARCH ARTICLE
Kitz-Wilson Mechanisms of Action of Neostigmine and Penicillin
T.A. Alston*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 46
Last Page: 49
Publisher ID: TOATJ-2-46
DOI: 10.2174/1874321800802010046
Article History:
Received Date: 01/04/2008Revision Received Date: 18/05/2008
Acceptance Date: 27/05/2008
Electronic publication date: 5/6/2008
Collection year: 2008
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The molecular mechanism of penicillin action is closely analogous to that of neostigmine. Both drugs react covalently with the active-site serine of their target enzymes. In both cases, the susceptible enzymes self-catalyze their inactivation by their respective drugs. Kinetic analysis of cholinesterase by Richard J. Kitz and Irwin B. Wilson helped to establish that concept. Neostigmine and penicillin are kindred examples of mechanism-based enzyme inhibition, a generally important phenomenon in pharmacology and physiology.