Acetylcholinesterase is the primary cholinesterase in the body, and is an enzyme that breaks acetylcholine into choline and acetic acid. This prevent muscles, nerves, and glands from becoming overstimulated. However, the organophosphorus nerve toxin sarin inhibits this process, blocking the active site so acetylcholine builds up, resulting in muscle, nerve, and gland overstimulation. This causes twitching, paralysis, and death if an antidote isn’t administered quick enough. This biomolecular model shows the interactions between acetylcholinesterase and sarin, going into depth about how sarin inhibits this enzyme and what interactions make sarin so deadly.
Note that some of the cartoon structure of acetylcholinesterase has been removed so the interactions around the active site are clearer to see.
References for the annotaions are included in my written report.
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