Relationship between the inhibition constant (KI) and the concentration of inhibitor which causes 50 per cent inhibition (I50) of an enzymatic reaction

A theoretical analysis has been made of the relationship between the inhibition constant (KI) of a substance and the (I50) value which expresses the concentration of inhibitor required to produce 50 per cent inhibition of an enzymic reaction at a specific substrate concentration. A comparison has been made of the relationships between KI and I50 for monosubstrate reactions when noncompetitive or uncompetitive inhibition kinetics apply, as well as for bisubstrate reactions under conditions of competitive, noncompetitive and uncompetitive inhibition kinetics. Precautions have been indicated against the indiscriminate use of I50 values in agreement with the admonitions previously described in the literature. The analysis described shows KI does not equal I50 when competitive inhibition kinetics apply; however, KI is equal to I50 under conditions of either noncompetitive or uncompetitive kinetics.