Biomolecules and enzymes: disulfiram and aldehyde dehydrogenase: practice question

The best answer is A, Aldehyde dehydrogenase. Disulfiram irreversibly inhibits aldehyde dehydrogenase, so acetaldehyde accumulates after alcohol intake and causes flushing, tachycardia, headache and nausea.

Catalase oxidises a small fraction of ethanol in peroxisomes and is not the target of disulfiram.

Cytochrome P450 2E1 is part of the microsomal ethanol oxidising system and is not the target of disulfiram.

Alcohol dehydrogenase makes acetaldehyde from ethanol, and inhibiting it would lower acetaldehyde, not raise it.

It tests Biomolecules and enzymes: disulfiram and aldehyde dehydrogenase in Biochemistry. The same reaction occurs in people carrying the ALDH2 variant common in East Asians.

We tag it as an application question: it asks you to use a fact on a patient or a finding. The tag is our own editorial judgement, not an official difficulty rating, so read the reason for every option, not only the answer.

Build one table of enzyme deficiency, disease, inheritance and key finding, then revise it by spaced recall. Then use the flashcards and the other Biochemistry questions on this site to test what stuck.

No. It is an original practice item (editorial status: sample, version 1). NextPrep does not publish recalled or leaked questions, and independent faculty review of this item has not been completed yet, so confirm important facts in a standard textbook.