Inhibition of human sperm acrosin by synthetic agents

Twenty-two synthetic proteinase inhibitors were tested for their inhibitory properties towards human acrosin. p-Nitrophenyl-p1-guanidino benzoate (NPGB) was the most effective (K1 value of 1-5 X 10(-8) M), producing a non-competitive type of inhibition in contrast to all other inhibitors which showed a competitive type of inhibition. The Michaelis constant for human acrosin on BAEE at pH 8-1 was calculated to be 4-25 X 10(-5) M.