The following simple and generalized equation not involving kinetic constants for substrates (K,) or inhibitors (K,) describes the summation of the effects of two mutually exclusive and reversible inhibitors on enzyme systems obeying Michaelis-Menten kinetics :where,ii and,X( = 1 -,ii) are the fractional velocity and the fractional inhibition of the reaction, respectively, and I,, is the concentration of the inhibitor (I) that is required to produce 507; inhibition (i.e. the median effect). More specifically, (fJ1 and V;)2 are the fractional velocities i n the presence ofinhibitors I , and I,, respectively, and (f;)]. the fractional velocity in the simultaneous presence of both inhibitors.For mutually nonexclusive reversible inhibitors that follow Michaelis-Menten kinetics, the relationship becomes :Similar relationships apply to situations involving more than two inhibitors, for which generalized equations are given in the text. The above relationships express summation of inhibitory effects, irrespective of the number of substrates, the number of inhibitors, the type of reversibie inhibition (competitive, noncompetitive, or uncompetitive), or the kinetic mechanisms (sequential or ping-pong) of the enzyme reaction under consideration. These concepts have been extended to higher-order (Hill-type) systems in which each reversible inhibitor has more than one binding site. If such inhibitors are mutually exclusive:where m is a Hill-type coefficient, assumed to be the same for each inhibitor.
If the inhibitors, I, and I,, are mutually nonexclusive, this relationship becomes :It may be seen that (for higher-order mutually exclusive and nonexclusive inhibitors), when (jJl,2 = 0.5, the above relationships are equal to unity, and hence require no knowledge of the magnitude of the values of m for each inhibitor. The above relations at (jJl, = 0.5 describe I,,-isobolograms (curves for isoeffective combinations of inhibitors).The above-described relationships lend themselves to simple graphical representations, directly applicable to + 12] will be concave upward, and will intersect ihe plot for the morc potent of the two inhibitors.