SELF-SUSTAINED PH OSCILLATIONS IN A COMPARTMENTALIZED ENZYME REACTOR SYSTEM

This work represents our continued effort toward fulfilling the need t o discover a model system for experimental investigations of temporal oscillations in an enzyme-membrane system. In this paper, the regions in the parameter space where self-sustained pH oscillations can be ind uced for a compartmentalized enzyme reactor system, which consists of a well-stirred reactor, a reservoir and a membrane containing no enzym e, were determined via numerical simulation with two proteolytic enzym es: papain (EC 3.4.22.2) and alpha-chymotrypsin (EC 3.4.21.1). The siz es of the regions were qualitatively compared with those associated wi th enzymic membrane system. As a result, we found that the possibility of experimentally observing self-sustained oscillations in the compar tmentalized papain reactor system, as well as in the papain-membrane s ystem, is high. However, self-sustained pH oscillations are less likel y in the compartmentalized Lu-chymotrypsin reactor system than in the cy-chymotrypsin-membrane system. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.