Transient Enzyme Kinetics at High Pressure

In a detailed study of an enzyme reaction pathway, a measured composite rate constant, for example, kcat, can be interpreted in ways that lead to ambiguous conclusions. Two conditions must be met to solve this problem: (1) an elementary rate constant must be measured, and (2) a maximum number of physical-chemical parameters must be used to perturb the system under study. To gain access to elementary rate constants, cryobaroenzymology and/or transient methods, such as stopped-flow and flow-quench kinetics, can be used. Both perturbation and kinetics measurements performed under either high pressure or low temperatures can then be used to probe the thermodynamics of the interconversion of two successive intermediates to obtain parameters such as ΔG‡, ΔS‡, ΔH‡, and ΔV‡ The interdependence of the two major variables, namely temperature and pressure, is presented in this article, in which the role of organic cosolvents is considered as a third variable. During catalytic reactions, enzymes undergo a number of conformational changes related to their dynamic structural flexibility. This appears as a succession of different steps. A complete study of such processes, which generally are very rapid, consists of the exploration of the properties of these steps, including thermodynamic features obtained by the action of temperature and pressure. As long ago as 1950, Laidler (1950) formulated the first theoretical basis for explaining the responses of enzymes to high hydrostatic pressures. Chemists used this parameter extensively, and in the early stages of high-pressure kinetics they attempted to analyze the observed results on the basis of collision theory (Asano, 1991) or transition-state theory (Evans & Polanyi, 1935). These theories are still used to describe pressure effects on enzyme reactions. It is postulated that between two successive intermediates there is a labile transition state which governs the energetics of the reaction (Glastone et al., 1941). But we must remember that this theory was first applied only to simple homogeneous reactions in gases. For solutions, the treatment can require the introduction of other parameters such as the viscosity.