title: A Michaelis-Menten-style model for the autocatalytic enzyme prostaglandin H synthase.
abstract: Prostaglandin H synthase (PGHS) is an autocatalytic enzyme which plays a key role in the arachidonic acid metabolic pathway. PGHS mediates the formation of prostaglandin H2, the precursor for a number of prostaglandins which are important in a wide variety of biological processes, including inflammation, blood clotting, renal function, and tumorigenesis. Here we present a Michaelis-Menten-style model for PGHS. A stability analysis determines when the reaction becomes self-sustaining, and can help explain the regulation of PGHS activity in vivo. We also consider a quasi-steady-state approximation (QSSA) for the model, and present conditions under which the QSSA is expected to be a good approximation. Applying the QSSA for this model can be useful in computationally intensive modeling endeavors involving PGHS.
authors.affiliation: Center for Applied Mathematics, Cornell University, 657 Frank H.T. Rhodes Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. joetien@cam.cornell.edu
authors.forename: Joseph H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Tien
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Hazelton
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sparks
authors.forename: Cornelia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ulrich
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D003198:Computer Simulation; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D044262:Prostaglandin H2 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D044262:Prostaglandin H2; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases