This book provides a comprehensive, organized, and concise overview of xenobiotic metabolic enzymes and their health implications. The subjects addressed are broad in scope with an emphasis on recent advances in research on biochemical and biomedical aspects of these enzymes. The xenobiotics discussed include not just drugs, but also food, smoke, and other environmental chemicals. The subjects covered in this work include: metabolic enzymes and their catalyzed reactions, reactive intermediates generated from metabolic activation, oxidative stress mediated by electrophilic reactive intermediates, bioactivation - mediated cellular and functional damages, activation of Nrf2 – ARE pathway, genetic variations affecting metabolic enzyme expression, enzyme polymorphisms affecting xenobiotic - mediated toxicity, induction of metabolic enzymes for health benefits, and a diversity of metabolic enzyme modulators.

Toxicodynamics in Drug Research, Volume 2: Public Health and Toxicology Issues examines the implications of public health issues and the impact of pharmaceuticals, chemical and food toxicants, dietary phytochemicals, and medical treatments on human health. Volume 2: Public Health and Toxicology Issues in Drug Research: Toxicity and Toxicodynamics covers topics on pharmacokinetics and toxicokinetics such as population pharmacokinetics/toxicokinetics, the design of toxicokinetic studies, and the use of toxicokinetic data in preclinical safety assessments. The book investigates the health effect caused by the bioaccumulation of pharmaceutical and personal care products and the impact of drug-induced toxicity on different systems of the body. It discusses the mechanistic pathways of food toxicants and illustrates the molecular mechanisms of the chemopreventive role of dietary phytochemicals. It also delves into the toxic effects of medical treatments and materials. Ethical, legal, societal, and professional issues in toxicology round off the coverage providing a valuable resource to interested in learning more about the health impact and public health issues related to the toxicity of pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, personal care products, and medical treatments. - Discusses the impact of pharmaceuticals, food, and chemical toxicants on human health - Examines the toxic effects of medical treatments, clinical administrations, and materials - Explores public health issues around drug safety and toxicology

This new book provides comprehensive coverage of the subjects of deuterium oxide and deuteration in biosciences, with an emphasis on the biochemical, biomedical, and pharmacological aspects. Deuterium oxide and deuteration effects also offer various implications for health-related issues, including diseases, vaccines and drugs. Organized in six sections, the chapter topics include the role of regular and heavy water in biosciences, and their implications to biomolecules, biochemical processes, health-related research, and pharmacology. Due to the broad scope, the book may be used as a supplemental text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in the related fields of biochemistry, biology, biomedical sciences, biophysics, and pharmacology. Researchers and pharmaceutical industry professionals will also find the content useful in order to gain knowledge and better understand the implications of deuterium oxide and deuteration research.

Humans are exposed to foreign compounds such as drugs, household products and environmental chemicals by swallowing or breathing. Also, food is considered a foreign compound. Such foreign compounds can be non-essential and non-functional to life, and commonly are referred to as xenobiotics. Some xenobiotics are not toxic; however, many of them are potentially toxic or become toxic after conversion to metabolic intermediates. A considerable number of foreign compounds belong to non-polar, lipophilic substances. Lipophilic compounds are not soluble in water. Metabolic conversion of lipophilic foreign compounds to facilitate their removal from the body is essentially carried out by biochemical reactions catalyzed by two classes of metabolizing enzymes, namely, activation enzymes and detoxification enzymes. Activation enzyme-catalyzed functionalization reaction introduces a functional group to a lipophilic compound. Functionalization modifies many foreign compounds to form reactive intermediates capable of interacting with cellular components (proteins, DNA and lipids), leading to a variety of conditions for diseases. Functionalized compounds are further metabolized through detoxification enzyme-catalyzed reactions, which result in an increase in the solubility of parent compounds and an inactivation of metabolic intermediates, thus facilitating their excretion from the body. To minimize the exposure of potentially toxic metabolic intermediates, it is essential to keep them at a minimum level. Extensive investigations have revealed that foreign compound-metabolizing enzymes exhibit genetic polymorphisms. Variations in their activities can produce different results as to the susceptibility to potential toxic effects. Moreover, the expressions of activation enzymes and detoxification enzymes are inducible. A number of chemical compounds are capable of acting as modulators for these two classes of enzymes. These findings have lead to the proposal of modulating metabolizing enzymes as a useful approach for human health benefits. Importantly, many of these chemical compounds are present in human daily diets. There are many advances that have been made in the past decades towards the understanding of functions and implications of activation enzymes and detoxification enzymes. An organized, concise overview is needed for the readers who are initially exposed to this important subject, particularly for students and researchers in the areas of biomedical sciences, biochemistry, nutrition, pharmacology and chemistry. This book is intended to serve this purpose as an introduction to the subject. Furthermore, major topics in the book, excluding catalytic reactions and structural properties, may have interest to other readers who have knowledge of basic sciences and understanding enzyme related information. The book discusses subjects associated with foreign compound metabolizing enzymes with emphasis on biochemical aspects, including lipophilic foreign compounds, catalytic properties, reactive intermediates, biomedical and biochemical effects, genetic polymorphisms, enzyme inducibility, enzyme modulation for health benefits, dietary related enzyme modulators, and structural characteristics of enzyme inducers.

This comprehensive encyclopedic reference provides rapid access to focused information on topics of cancer research for clinicians, research scientists and advanced students. Given the overwhelming success of the first edition, which appeared in 2001, and fast development in the different fields of cancer research, it has been decided to publish a second fully revised and expanded edition. With an A-Z format of over 7,000 entries, more than 1,000 contributing authors provide a complete reference to cancer. The merging of different basic and clinical scientific disciplines towards the common goal of fighting cancer makes such a comprehensive reference source all the more timely.

Written as an advanced text for toxicology students, this book is much more than an introduction and provides in-depth information describing the underlying mechanisms through which toxicants produce their adverse responses. • Links traditional toxicology to modern molecular techniques, important for teaching to graduate courses and professional studies • Uses a didactic approach with basic biological or theoretical background for the methodology presented • Brings together and comprehensively covers a range of dynamic aspects in biochemical and molecular toxicology • Guides student and professional toxicologists in comprehending a broad range of issues, compiled and authored by a diverse group of experts • “A good introductory textbook covering the biochemical toxicology of organic substances and the relevant methodology in some detail.... It offers good value for money and can be recommended as a textbook for appropriate courses” – BTS Newsletter review of the 4th edition