A common dichotomy exists in inhibitor design: should the compounds be designed to block the enzymes of animals in the preclinical studies or to inhibit the human enzyme? We report that a single mutation of Leu-337 in rat neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) to His makes the enzyme resemble human nNOS more than rat nNOS. We expect that the approach used in this study can unite the dichotomy and speed up the process of inhibitor design and development.
Department of Chemistry, Center for Molecular Innovation and Drug Discovery, Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3113, USA.
