[Lactate dehydrogenase. An example of the development of modern enzymology]

Lactate dehydrogenase is the prototype of an oligomeric, intracellular enzyme. Its primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures are now well known. This fact, especially with regard to the occurrence of isoenzymes, has effected a great progress in the understanding of the structure-function relationship of enzymes. The historical development of modern enzymology is described, together with discussions of the various methods and problems of enzymology.