Question 13 of 13intermediate🔧 ApplyShort Answer3 marks

Consult internet and find out how to make orally active protein pharmaceutical. What is the major problem to be encountered?

Correct Answer

For a protein pharmaceutical to be orally active, it must survive the digestive system and get absorbed into the blood stream.

To make orally active protein pharmaceuticals, the protein must be protected from degradation in the digestive tract. This can be done by:

  1. Encapsulating the protein in protective coatings
  2. Using protease inhibitors along with the protein
  3. Modifying the protein structure to resist enzymatic breakdown
  4. Using absorption enhancers to help cross the intestinal wall

The major problem to be encountered is that proteins get digested by proteases present in our digestive system before they can be absorbed. Additionally, being large molecules, proteins cannot easily pass through the intestinal membrane into the bloodstream. This is why insulin (a protein hormone) cannot be administered orally to diabetic patients and must be injected directly.

This explains why the textbook asks us to "think about whether insulin can be orally administered to diabetic people or not."

Exercise: EXERCISES | Q: 13 | (Page 13)
For More Understanding

Explanation

The textbook context hints at this problem by asking students to think about whether insulin can be orally administered. The answer lies in understanding that our digestive system contains proteases (as referenced in Question 12 of the same chapter) that break down proteins. Since protein pharmaceuticals like insulin are made of polypeptide chains (as described in the context about insulin having chains A and B), they would be degraded before absorption. While the context doesn't provide the complete solution methods, it establishes the fundamental problem that proteins cannot be taken orally because of digestive degradation.

Solution Steps

  1. Step 1: Identify that protein pharmaceuticals (like insulin) are made of polypeptide chains

  2. Step 2: Recognize that proteases in the digestive system break down proteins

  3. Step 3: Conclude that the major problem is protein degradation before absorption into bloodstream

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