Enzyme amplifier kinetics.

Enzyme amplifier systems have been implicated in such diverse physiological phenomena as vision and blood coagulation. Such systems are considered from a general point of view and the concept of steady state gain of the enzyme amplifier is introduced. Expressions for the latter are obtained, and several of the main factors influencing gain are discussed. The effect of the duration of the activation on the characteristics of the response is discussed, and the influence of small changes in the rate constants on the steady state gain is considered.