Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH or LD) is an
enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecule ...
found in nearly all living cells. LDH catalyzes the conversion of
lactate
Lactate may refer to:
* Lactation, the secretion of milk from the mammary glands
* Lactate, the conjugate base of lactic acid
Lactic acid is an organic acid. It has a molecular formula . It is white in the solid state and it is miscible with ...
to
pyruvate
Pyruvic acid (CH3COCOOH) is the simplest of the alpha-keto acids, with a carboxylic acid and a ketone functional group. Pyruvate, the conjugate base, CH3COCOO−, is an intermediate in several metabolic pathways throughout the cell.
Pyruvic aci ...
and back, as it converts NAD
+ to
NADH
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is a coenzyme central to metabolism. Found in all living cells, NAD is called a dinucleotide because it consists of two nucleotides joined through their phosphate groups. One nucleotide contains an aden ...
and back. A
dehydrogenase
A dehydrogenase is an enzyme belonging to the group of oxidoreductases that oxidizes a substrate by reducing an electron acceptor, usually NAD+/NADP+ or a flavin coenzyme such as FAD or FMN. Like all catalysts, they catalyze reverse as well as ...
is an enzyme that transfers a
hydride
In chemistry, a hydride is formally the anion of hydrogen( H−). The term is applied loosely. At one extreme, all compounds containing covalently bound H atoms are called hydrides: water (H2O) is a hydride of oxygen, ammonia is a hydride of ...
from one molecule to another.
LDH exists in four distinct enzyme classes. This article is specifically about the
NAD(P) In biochemistry, NAD(P) may refer to:
* NAD, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
* NADP, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate
{{Short pages monitor