Medical biochemistry

Biochemistry for Medicine and Pharmacy

A course of the

Please refer also to the main topic:Biochemistry wiki for Biochemistry for Chemistry and for Biology.

You are invited to improve thoughtfully upon these subjects. Please refer to the Discussion page for proposals, discussion and comments.

Topics and Learning Materials

 * Basics
 * The International System of Units, item
 * Nomenclature of organic chemistry,item,
 * Logarithms
 * Nuclides
 * Radioactive decay
 * gas laws, Gases and Gas Laws
 * Partial pressure and mole fraction
 * Osmosis
 * Diffusion
 * pH (needs a little more)
 * Buffers
 * Biomolecules -- Structures, classification and properties of:
 * Nucleic acids
 * Amino acids
 * Protein
 * Carbohydrate
 * Lipid
 * Laboratory and Analytical Methods
 * Simple (glass) laboratory equipment and how to use it
 * Laboratory safety
 * Size exclusion chromatography
 * UV-VIS Spectrometry
 * IR spectrometry
 * Centrifugation and Ultracentrifugation
 * Electrophoresis
 * Chromatography
 * Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry
 * Gamma counting
 * Beta counting
 * Enzyme assays
 * PCR
 * Metabolic pathways
 * Proteins
 * In vivo nucleic acids synthesis
 * Nucleic acid degradation, pyrimidine and purine catabolism
 * Peptide bond
 * In vivo protein synthesis
 * Micronutrients and Vitamins
 * Enzymes
 * Regulation of metabolic pathways
 * Associated: Hemoglobin, gas transportation and Hemoglobinopathies


 * Amino acids
 * Decarboxylation
 * Transamination
 * General amino acid synthesis
 * General amino acid catabolism
 * Special amino acid metabolism
 * Amino acid interconversion
 * Urea cycle, item
 * Gamma-glutamyl cycle
 * Associated: Gout,Maple syrup disease, inborn errors of metabolism
 * Carbohydrates
 * Glycolysis
 * Krebs' cycle
 * Pyruvate decarboxylation
 * The ATP cycle
 * Oxidative phosphorylation
 * Dickens-Horecker cycle
 * Hexose interconversions
 * Neoglucogenesis
 * Glycogenesis
 * Glycogenolysis
 * Cori cycle
 * Carbohydrate regulation mechanism: glucagon and insulin
 * Associated: Diabetes mellitus
 * Lipids
 * fatty acids
 * Essential fatty acids, item, poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA); eicosanoids: prostaglandins, thromboxanes, prostacyclin and leukotrienes.
 * The lipid bilayer, item, and transport across it
 * Lipid peroxidation
 * Acylglycerols
 * Triacylglycerols
 * Sn system
 * Carnitine and membrane transport of fatty acids
 * Fatty acid oxidations
 * Beta oxidation
 * Ketogenesis
 * Lipid synthesis (lipogenesis)
 * Arachidonic acid cascade and the eicosanoids (above)
 * Associated: ...
 * Lipoproteins and cholesterol
 * The serum lipoprotein transport system
 * Cholesterol metabolism, regulation and transport
 * Lipoprotein metabolism
 * Chylomicra and VLDL
 * LDL and HDL
 * Regulation of lipoprotein metabolism
 * History of Biochemistry

Topics in Veterinary Medicine
....

Learning Projects
Biochemistry today
 * The pet food crisis and Non-protein nitrogen as legitimate and illegitimate feed additive.

Essay and Discussion Themes
 * Atherosclerosis
 * 1) Lipoprotein cell recognition mechanisms
 * 2) Scavenger system
 * 3) Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs). Cytokines.
 * 4) Oxidized lipoproteins
 * Digestion and absorption
 * Plasma buffer systems
 * Kidney
 * Nerve impulse, transmission, neuromuscular junction and modulators.
 * Chemical military agents and antidotes
 * The origin of life on Earth
 * 1) The possible origin of life outside Earth (Astrobiology)
 * Iron, Heme and Hemoglobin metabolism and its errors (item, item, item)
 * Coagulation
 * 1) Voluntary Muscle (item) metabolic peculiarities (item, item, item) and the neuromuscular junction
 * Connective tissue (collagen, elastin, reticulin) and its main anomalies.
 * Nicotine toxicology and addiction, tolerance (item), dopamine and the brain reward pathways


 * Vitalism - Is vitalism dead? Is mechanicism firmly established? Are all life processes, including consciousness, emotions, feelings (sentiments), and the sense of being oneself (Self) chemical and organic processes and functions, as neurologist António Damásio says ? Is there a life force that drives the processes of the emergence of life on Earth, growth, tissue differentiation, morphogenesis and of tissue repair? Something like the egyptians Ka  ? It's true that the controversy between materialism and idealisms has thousands of years and is likely to stay around; but what do you think yourself?

Books
By alphabetical order of the first author's surname.

General Biochemistry

 * Nelson DL, Cox MM. "Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry". Worth Publishers. New York. 2000. ISBN 1-57259-153-6. http://worthpublishers.com/lehninger


 * Osgood M, Ocorr K. "The Absolute, Ultimate Guide to Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry Study Guide and Solution Manual". Worth Publishers. New York. 2000. ISBN 9781572591677.


 * Biochemistry Wikibook

Medical Biochemistry

 * Cooper GM. The Cell, A Molecular Approach


 * Devlin TM Ed. "Textbook of Biochemistry with Clinical Correlations". Wiley-Liss. Hoboken. 2006. ISBN 9780471678083.


 * Epstein RJ. "Human Molecular Biology: An Introduction to the Basis of Health and Disease". Cambridge University Press. G. Canale & C. S.p.a. 2003. ISBN 9780521644815


 * Free Books for Doctors - Biochemistry


 * Murray RK, Granner DK, Rodwell VW et al. "Harper's Illustrated Biochemistry". Lange-McGrawHill. Singapore. 2006. ISBN 007-125300-9.


 * Smith C, Marks A, Liebermann M. "Mark's Basic Medical Biochemistry: A Clinical Approach." Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Baltimore. 2005. ISBN 0-7817-2145-8


 * Stryer's. Missing Up-to-date Reference.
 * Stryer's online Biochemistry

Further Resources

 * NCBI Bookshelf


 * The more general Entrez


 * Online Biology Book or


 * Exercises