Sarah Jackman
Royal Society of Chemistry
Author: Jason Woolford
Published: September 30, 2013
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/09/cocaine-addiction-enzyme-treatment-butyrylcholinesterase
Summary:
A new discovery from the University of Kentucky have found a possible treatment for cocaine addiction. Currently, there are no medications that have been officially proven to do so. Chang-guo Zhan, a worker at the University of Kentucky, found that the enzyme (butyrylcholinesterase) that changes the route of cocaine in the body and turns the harmful substance into harmless products. Through experiments, mutations of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) were produced that effectively decomposed cocaine. The mutated enzyme was able to break down cocaine 1000 times faster than the original enzyme. This discovery is "very promising" and one mutant version on BChE is being tested in human trials.
Connection :
In this term, we spent a while discussing enzymes and did a lab using catalase. The article connects to what we have learned about enzymes such as that they can break substrates down into products(decomposition). For example, in the enzyme lab we took a harmful substance to the body(hydrogen peroxide), and added the enzyme catalase to make a harmless product. The article describes something similar. Butyrylcholinesterase transforms the harmful substance, cocaine, into products that are safe for the body.
How will changing the route of cocaine in the body and turn the harmful substance into harmless products really become a possible treatment for cocaine addiction?
ReplyDeleteIs there a possibility of there being any harmful side affects of BChE for certain people?
ReplyDeleteBChE is actually a gene that has the instructions to making the enzyme that breaks down toxic drugs such as cocaine called pseudocholinesterase. Because the scientists in the article mutated this gene, the enzyme becomes mutated(because the "instructions" are changed). When this enzyme is mutated, different problems can occur. One type of mutation can lead to the enzyme not functioning properly which "impairs the body's ability to break down choline ester drugs efficiently, leading to abnormally prolonged drug effects". Another mutation can cause pseudocholinesterase deficiency. This condition causes a person to be more sensitive to specific muscle relaxant( that relax the muscles such as anesthesia. This can be a problem because if a person is having a surgery, they do not break down the drug at the same rate as people without the deficiency and need a breathing tube or a machine to help them breathe during and several hours after the operation. It can also cause sensitivity to agricultural pesticides. So overall, BChE can be harmful if it is mutated.
Deletehttp://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/BCHE
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/pseudocholinesterase-deficiency