Definition

The magnesium salt of esomeprazole, the S-isomer of omeprazole, with gastric proton pump inhibitor activity. In the acidic compartment of parietal cells, esomeprazole is protonated and converted into the active achiral sulphenamide; the active sulphenamide forms one or more covalent disulfide bonds with the proton pump hydrogen-potassium adenosine triphosphatase (H+/K+ ATPase), thereby inhibiting its activity and the parietal cell secretion of H+ ions into the gastric lumen, the final step in gastric acid production. H+/K+ ATPase is an integral membrane protein of the gastric parietal cell.