Cytochrome P450 Enzyme Inhibitors from Nature

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) is a heme containing enzyme superfamily that catalyzes the oxidative biotransformation of lipophilic substrates to hydrophilic metabolites facilitating their removal from cells. The CYPs were first recognized by Martin Klingenberg (Klingenberg, 1958) while studying the spectrophotometric properties of pigments in a microsomal fraction prepared from rat livers. When a diluted microsomal preparation was reduced by sodium dithionite and exposed to carbon monoxide gas, a unique spectral absorbance band with a maximum at 450nm appeared. The ferric ion in the resting heme, binds easily with CO following reduction, and the complex’s maximal absorbance band, unique amongst hemeproteins, serves as the signature of CYP enzymes.