Drug Metabolism

Catalog description

The overall objective of this course is to enable the student to predict, from a drug’s structure its probable metabolites and their potential for toxicity. In the first part of the course, the physiological processes of drug absorption, distribution and e limination will be briefly reviewed, and the major pathways of drug biotransformation will be studied in detail from an enzymatic basis. Phase I reactions due to monooxygenases (Cytochrome P-450 and Flavin Monooxygenases) will be studied in detail. Example s of metabolic activation and biotransformation of xenobiotics, including drugs, environmental pollutants and naturally occurring toxic chemicals will be given. The second part of the course will deal with the Phase II reactions. Various conjugating enzymes and the reactions they catalyze will be studied using examples of drugs and xenobiotic compounds. In this course lecture, student oral presentation and internet search will be used among other instructional strategy.