Abstract
Summary
Evidence is presented that the enzyme carboxypeptidase is more widely distributed throughout mammalian tissues than is commonly realized. The reasons for previous failure to detect the enzyme are: a) the existence of a natural cellular inhibitor, the effect of which is to mask the enzymatic activity, and b) the fact that two carboxypeptidases probably co-exist in many tissues; the pH optima of these two are different, and one is activated, the other inhibited, by cysteine. The natural cellular inhibitor affects only one of the carboxypeptidases, and does so in a non-competitive fashion.
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