Analysis of kinetic data for irreversible enzyme inhibition.

Many organophosphorus compounds are irreversible inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase. The methods used in the literature to determine the inhibition kinetic constants usually involve either manual determination of the slope at various points along the inhibition progress curve or fitting polynomials to the curve. The present study investigates the use of non-linear-regression analysis to determine the various parameters. A method is suggested that yields accurate values for the inhibition constants under a range of circumstances.