This book provides a comprehensive description of sterols and their novel biological roles in mammalian signaling, the book covers their biosynthesis and structure, describes sterol receptor -mediated actions, their tissue distribution and their role in disease. It offers insight into new research findings, focusing specifically on novel discoveries in bile acid and oxysterol signaling, including the lanosterol-to-cholesterol intermediates. Special attention is paid on the sex distribution of these sterols (male or female) and their sexually dimorphic roles in mammalian species, such as human, rat and mouse. Since sterols and drugs (xenobiotics) use many identical receptor-mediated signaling pathways, the book will be interesting for researchers working on the cross-road of endogenous and xenobiotic metabolism, it is intended for advanced students and scientists in molecular biology and biochemistry as well as for medical doctors in hepatology.

Sterols and Bile Acids

The Biology of Cholesterol and Related Steroids focuses on the study of sterols in relation to living organisms. The publication first takes a look at the analysis of sterols and related steroids and the distribution of sterols and related steroids in nature, as well as the processes of extraction and separation and presence of sterols in plants, fungi, vertebrates, and invertebrates. The text then ponders on biosynthesis of sterols and metabolism of cholesterol. Topics include formation of fatty acid esters of cholesterol, steroid hormones, biosynthetic pathway to sterols, reaction mechanisms, and comparative aspects of sterol synthesis. The manuscript examines the developmental aspects of cholesterol metabolism and sterols in biological membranes. The book also reviews cholesterol synthesis in animal tissues, sterol metabolism in isolated cells, and epidemiology of the plasma cholesterol. Discussions focus on selection of statistical populations, genetic influences, regulation of sterol synthesis, general aspects of sterol metabolism, and removal of cell cholesterol in vivo. The publication is a dependable source of data for biochemists and readers interested in the biology of cholesterol and steroids.

Completely revised new edition of the premier reference on pediatric liver disease. Liver Disease in Children, 3rd Edition provides authoritative coverage of every aspect of liver disease affecting infants, children, and adolescents. The book offers an integrated approach to the science and clinical practice of pediatric hepatology and charts the substantial progress in understanding and treating these diseases. Chapters are written by international experts and address the unique pathophysiology, manifestations, and management of these disorders in the pediatric population. The third edition has been thoroughly updated and features new contributions on liver development, cholestatic and autoimmune disorders, fatty liver disease, and inborn errors of metabolism. With the continued evolution of pediatric hepatology as a discipline, this text remains an essential reference for all physicians involved in the care of children with liver disease.

Part 3 of the Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology (Concepts in Biochem ical Pharmacology) applies the principles enunciated in Parts 1 and 2 to clinical pharmacology and toxicology. The major objective is to elucidate the many factors that determine the relationships between pharmacokinetic aspects of the disposition and metabolism of drugs and their therapeutic or toxic actions in man. Because of the more restricted information obtainable in human studies, this volume reflects the editors' bias that an understanding of pharmacokinetics is fundamental for assessing pharmacologic or toxicologic effects of drugs in humans. The first chapter is a unique primer on when to apply and how to use pharmaco kinetic tools in human pharmacology. The second chapter explains the general assumptions underlying pharmacokinetic approaches both in simple terms for the novice and in mathematical form for the more sophisticated reader. Several chapters on determinants of drug concentration and activity discuss drug absorption, drug latentiation, drugs acting through metabolites, entero hepatic drug circulation, influence of route of drug administration on response, genetic variations in drug disposition and response, age differences in absorption, distribution and excretion of drugs, and pathologic and physiologic factors affecting absorption, distribution and excretion of drugs and drug response. The focus of these chapters is data obtained in human, rather than animal, studies. Most of the chapters contain new material never summarized previously.

This book focusses on the latest results related to the field of bile acids as signaling molecules and describes how these receptors have become a major pharmacological target. It covers all major areas of research in this field, from genetics, chemistry, in silico modeling, molecular biology to clinical applications, offering a cross-country view of the functional role of bile acids as signaling molecules, virtually acting on all major areas of metabolism. While FXR and GPBAR1 are essential bile acid sensors that integrate the de novo bile acid synthesis with intestinal microbiota and liver metabolism, in a broader sense, BARs play a pathogenic role in the development of common human alignments including liver, intestinal and metabolic disorders, such as steatosis (NAFLD) and steato-hepatitis (NASH), diabetes, obesity and atherosclerosis.