Substrates for Paraoxonase.

BACKGROUND: Paraoxonase (PON) is a family of calcium-dependent hydrolases, which is related to many diseases. Elucidation of PON physiological roles, active center and all applications in medical fields are dependent on its substrates.

OBJECTIVE: The reports about PON substrates scattered in a long span of period are collected to afford clue for drug design, diagnosis of PON status and other academic purposes.

METHOD: PON substrates from 133 references are classified and compared. Structurally, PON substrates are generally classified as organic phosphorous esters, lactones and arylesters. Some phosphoramidates, organophosphorous obidoximes, aryl carboxylic acid amides and special fatty alcohol esters as PON substrates are also included.

RESULTS: The electron nature, steric hindrance and hydrophilicity of substrate substituents affecting the PON catalytic ability, binding ability and specificities are discussed. Drugs, prodrugs and naturally endogenous molecules in life processes activated or inactivate by PON are reviewed. Interestingly, some organophosphate and lactone substrates are preferably hydrolyzed by one of the PON1R192Q allozymes, and such a substrate is generally essential for differentiating the three PON1192R phenotypes by using a dual-substrate method. Intricately, some chiral substrates are hydrolyzed by PON stereoselectively.

CONCLUSION: As more substrates are synthesized and characterized, more facts about PON structure and catalytic properties (including PON active center and catalytic mechanism) will be revealed, and therefore the use of PON as a drug target or as an accurate disease marker will be achieved.