RE: Educating Steem: Explaining the Physiology of “The Hangover”
What is weird to me is why we haven't found a drug to clear it out of system sooner the next day! Any ideas on why that would be difficult?
The body already has a few enzymes which do that acetaldehyde dehydrogenases
I suppose one could look for a drug which activates the activity of one of these enzymes.
When people are alcoholics they are given an inhibitor drug for these enzymes, which results in really really bad hangovers (as a deterrent for drinking). That drug is Disulfram. Making an inhibitor is much easier then making an activator. You would need to identify a compound which is able to allosterically bind to and cause a conformational change in one of these enzymes resulting in it being MORE active catalytically (unless there was already such a regulatory mechanism in place). I don't know of any native regulation like that for these enzymes, and so it may not be possible to develop such a small molecule.
Another possible route would be to find something which binds to the DNA directly (like around the promoter) and increases (upregulates RNA transcription) expression of the enzymes in the liver, but that is even more difficult.
I don't think there is an easy solution. Which is likely why there isn't one already haha.
Thanks for this detailed response. Taking me back to chemistry/pharmacology is always a good thing (especially now that I can prescribe). Makes a lot of sense on how blocking (competitively I presume) would be much easier.
That is the million dollar drug though.
The DNA part seems even harder in a way, but if the molecule is too small to allosterically bind... maybe that would be an easier way.
Hydrating seems like a good idea, but maybe we will never find the cure!
Its not a factor of size, but rather the possibility of binding anywhere actually inducing a change which affects enzyme activity. It may not be physically possible.
Good to know! Thanks a lot.