Dehydrogenase

Dehydrogenases: Hydrogen Transfer Enzymes

Dehydrogenases are a class of enzymes that play an important role in metabolism in living organisms. They participate in redox reactions, transferring hydrogen from one substrate to another. Dehydrogenases are widely distributed in all living organisms, including animals, plants and microorganisms.

There are various dehydrogenases present in human blood, such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and malate dehydrogenase. LDH is one of the most common markers of tissue damage and has diagnostic value in various diseases. Malate dehydrogenase is an important enzyme in the Krebs cycle and is involved in glucose metabolism.

Dehydrogenase enzymes play an important role in many biochemical processes, such as the synthesis of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, as well as in energy metabolism. They are also involved in the synthesis of nucleic acids and other biomolecules.

Studying the activity of dehydrogenases in blood and tissues can help in diagnosing diseases associated with metabolic disorders, for example, diabetes mellitus, myocardial infarction, cancer and other pathologies.

Thus, dehydrogenases are important enzymes involved in various biochemical processes in living organisms and have diagnostic value for determining a number of diseases.

Dehydrogenases are enzymes (at least 180 different types) that are characterized by the catalytic activity of substrate oxidation, but do not contain OH groups. Their function is to transfer hydrogen atoms from an oxidizing substrate to another substrate. The general designation for the class of enzymatic reactions in which dehydrogenases participate is oxidoreduction. These are the same redox reactions, but, unlike the traditional mechanism that does not involve the participation of molecular products, hydrogen atoms are transferred not only from one component of water, but also from other elements. Thus, the definition of dehydrogenase describes two main properties of the enzyme that distinguish it from oxidases (the ability to transfer oxygen atoms) and catalase (metal atoms, similar to the meat enzyme).