Question

Why are certain drugs called enzyme inhibitors?

Answer 1

Enzymes have active sites that bind the substrate for effective and quick chemical reaction. The functional groups present at the active site of enzyme react with functional groups of a substrate via .ionic bonding, van der Waals’ interaction, etc. Some drugs interfere with this interaction by blocking the binding site of an enzyme and also prevent the binding of the actual substrate with an enzyme. This inhibits the catalytic activity of the enzyme. Therefore, these are called inhibitors.