Abstract:

A program has been developed in Visual Basic for Applications language, which is integrated into Microsoft Excel, which allows the simulation of homogeneous enzymatic reactions, with different kinetics. Specifically, for Michaelis-Menten kinetics without Inhibition, and with Competitive, Non-Competitive and Acompetitive Inhibition per product. It allows to make an analysis from data of initial rates, or to study the progress of the reaction, calculating substrate conversions over time.

The simulator acts as a virtual kinetic laboratory where the influence, on the initial rate of the reaction, of the amount of enzyme, the initial concentration of substrate, the Michaelis constant and the inhibition constant can be studied. For Michaelis-Menten kinetics without inhibition, the program can provide the values of the kinetic parameters, Michaelis constant, and catalytic constant, if initial rate data are available. To do this, it uses a linear fit, to the different equations obtained by linearizing the Michaelis-Menten equation (Lineweaver-Burk, Hanes-Wolf and Eadie-Hofstee). For the kinetics with inhibition, also using a linear fit, the program additionally provides the value of the inhibition constant. Finally, the progress of the reaction can be analyzed for the different kinetics, studying the influence on the conversion of the different operating parameters.

The corresponding User Manual has also been prepared, so that students, through the Virtual Classroom, can use this software autonomously and exercise in the self-learning of its contents. The Manual includes a series of exercises to solve manually and then check the results with the simulator. It is mainly aimed at students of the subjects "Biochemical Engineering", of the Degree in Chemical Engineering, and "Engineering of Biochemical Reactions: Bioreactors", of the Degree in Biotechnology.

Keywords:

Enzymatic kinetics, simulator, virtual laboratory, biochemical engineering.