Liver and Friends Flashcards
What are xenobiotics?
- foreign chemical substances not normally found or produced in the body
- cannot be used for energy requirements
- can be absorbed across lungs, skin or ingested
- excited in bile, grin, sweat and breath
What are pharmacologically active compounds?
- lipophilic: can pass through PM to reach metabolising membranes
- non-ionised at pH 7.4
- bound to plasma proteins to be transported in the blood
What are microsomal enzymes?
enzymes that can be found in microsomes
What are microsomal enzymes?
- mainly phase 1 reactions (can be phase 2)
- located on SER
- mainly found in liver hepatocytes
Give some examples of microsomal enzymes…
Cytochrome P450 (CYP's) Flavin monooxygenase (FMO's) and UDP glucoronosyltransferase (UGT)
Name two major detoxification pathways in the liver
Phase 1 and phase 2 reactions
What are non-microsomal enzymes?
- located in the cytoplasm and mitochondria of hepatocytes in the liver (but also other tissues)
- non-specific (can be used in phase 1 and 2)
- involved in ALL conjugation reactions except GLUCORONIDATION
What is the aim of drug metabolism?
to make drugs more polar so they cannot get across the membrane
what drugs are not excreted by the kidney?
lipophilic drugs as they are passively absorbed because they can diffuse through membranes easily
What is the aim of the Phase 1 reaction?
To make the drug more hydrophilic so it can be excreted by the kidneys.
Introduces reactive group to the group (-OH group) which is an attack point for conjugation
What are the 3 stages of phase 1?
Oxidation, Reduction and Hyrdrolysis
What are the stages of Phase 1 oxidation?
- Hyrdroxylation (add -OH)
- Dealkylation (remove -CH side chain)
- Deamination (remove -NH)
- Hyrdogen removal
What are the stages of Phase 1 reduction?
Add a hydrogen to saturate unsaturated bonds
What are the stages of Phase 1 hydrolysis?
add water to break the bond between the amide and ester
What is functionalisation?
Introduction of reactive group to drug by adding or exposing -OH, -SH, -NH2, -COOH
What is the main catalyst for phase 1 reaction?
Cytochrome p450 enzymes
What are cytochrome P450 enzymes?
microsomal enzyme which uses its heme group to oxidise substances
What is important about the products of P450 enzymes?
They are more water soluble
What happens to phase 1 enzymes with age?
Their activity decreases and blood flow through the liver is decreased which further aggravates the problem
Name an enzyme that inhibits phase 1 but promotes phase 2…
Curcumin
What is the phase 1 overall reaction equation?
NAPDH + H+ + O2 + RH > NADP +H20 + R-OH
Name 4 things that phase 1 reactions can do to a drug
- inactivate drugs
- further activate drug
- activate drug from pro-drug
- make a drug into a reactive intermediate (could be carcinogenic or toxic)
Describe what happens in Phase 1 reaction
Enzyme cytochrome P450 required to transfer electrons from NADPH to CYP450.
This contains flavoprotein (consisting of FAD and FMN)
- FAD accepts electrons from NADPH
- FMN donates electrons to CYP’s
Name 6 detoxification Phase 2 pathways
- Glucoronidation
- Sulfation
- Glutathione conjugation
- AA conjugation
- Acetylation
- Methylation
What is Gilberts Syndrome?
inherited impairment of glucoronidation pathway. Characterised by jaundice and elevated levels of bilirubin
What is the conjugation reaction?
Liver cells add another substance to a toxic chemical/ drug to make it less harmful, making it water soluble so it can be excreted
What does glucuronidation require?
Magnesium and B-vitamins
What enzyme is required for glucuronidation?
glucuronysyltransferase
Which coenzyme is required in glucuronidation?
UDPGA (uridine diphospho-glucuronic acid)
What substances are produced by glucuronidation?
glucuronides
Glucuronidation forms what type of bonds?
covalent bonds
Phase 2 reactions require what type of enzymes?
non-microsomal enzymes found mostly in the cytoplasm or mitochondria of hepatocytes
Draw the glucuronidation pathway…
UDPGA + drug > uridine diphosphate + drug (+glucuronide)
What happens if Phase 1 and 2 pathways become overloaded?
build up of toxins in the body, many of these toxins are fat soluble and incorporated into fatty parts of body, most common sites are brain and endocrine organs»_space; brain dysfunction and hormonal imbalances
What s the action of aspirin?
irreversibly inhibits cyclooxyrgenase (COX), suppressing the production of prostaglandins and thromboxanes
What is the hydrolysis reaction of aspirin?
Aspirin + H20»_space; Salcylic acid + ethnic acid
How is aspirin metabolised?
is a pro-drug and activated upon metabolism and follows Phase 1 and 2.
Phase 2 it is conjugated with glucuronic acid
How is paracetamol metabolised?
predominantly via Phase 2: conjugated with glucuronic acid and sulfuric acid
What is the alternative name for paracetamol?
acetaminophen
Will paracetamol undergo Phase 1 reaction?
Not usually. If stores of glucuronic acid and sulphate are running low it undergoes Phase 1 metabolism via oxidation to produce toxic NAPQI- removed by conjugation with glutathione
What happens in an overdose of paracetamol?
Stores of glutathione can run low resulting in toxicity- reactive metabolite begins to react with -SH groups present on hepatic and renal proteins
What is an overdose of paracetamol treated with?
N-Acetyl Cysteine
What is the equation for alcohol metabolism?
Ethanol- (ADH) > acetaldehyde - (ALDH) > acetate > CO2 + H20
Which two enzymes help break apart the alcohol molecule to allow excretion?
ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase) and ALDH (aldehyde dehydrogenase)
Give some sources of iron?
meat, liver, beans, nuts, cereal
Where in the GI tract is iron absorbed?
Duodenum
How is the amount of iron absorbed increased or decreased
in a negative feedback manner depending not eh state of the bodies iron balance
How much of the iron ingested is absorbed into the blood each day?
10%
How are iron ions transported into the duodenal intestinal epithelial cells?
active transport
Once in the epithelial cells what are iron ions incorporated into?
ferritin which acts as an intracellular store for iron
When is most of the iron bound to ferritin released BACK into the intestinal lumen?
when the cells at the tips of the villi disintegrate, and iron is excreted in the faeces
What happens when the body has enough iron?
increased conc of free iron in plasma and interstitial epithelial cells»_space; increased transcription of the gene encoding for ferritin»_space; increased synthesis of ferritin protein»_space; increased binding of Fe in intestinal epithelial cells»_space; reduction in the amount of iron released into the blood
What happens when body stores of iron are low? e.g. after blood loss.
the production of intestinal ferritin decreases»_space; decrease in amount of iron bound to ferritin»_space; increase in the unbound iron released into the blood
What happens to iron that is not bound to ferritin
It is released into the blood where is is able to circulate around the body bound to the plasma protein TRANSFERRIN
Where does transferrin transport the iron in the blood?
to the bone marrow to be incorporated into new erythrocytes
Once iron has entered the blood the body has little way of excreting it. Where does it accumulate and where is it stored?
Accumulates in tissues, MOST of the iron is stored in the LIVER in liver ferritin within Kupffer cells
How is iron used/stores in the body? (percentages)
50% of total iron is in haemoglobin
25% is in heme containing proteins (mainly cytochromes)
25% is in liver ferritin
Name a protein not made in the liver?
Von Willebrand Factor
What is oncotic pressure?
a form of osmotic pressure exerted by proteins, notably albumin, in a blood vessel’s plasma (blood/liquid) that usually tends to pull water into the circulatory system. It is the opposing force to hydrostatic pressure.
Define hydrostatic pressure
the pressure of any fluid enclosed in a space
What is capillary hydrostatic pressure (CHP)?
the pressure exerted by blood against the wall of a capillary
What is the effect of liver failure on albumin and net flow of water in the capillaries?
liver failure = reduction in album > less album in blood (hypoalbuminaemia) > decrease in capillary oncotic pressure > accumulation of water in interstitial fluid > oedema
What also conditions can lead to a decrease in albumin?
- Nephrotic syndrome
- Haemorrhage
- Gut loss
- Burns
How does nephrotic syndrome lead to decreased albumin?
there is an increased glomerular permeability which allows proteins to filter through he basement membrane (loss of several grams of protein a day)
How can gut loss lead to decreased albumin?
a rare syndrome in which the wall of the gut is unusually permeable to large molecules resulting in albumin loss
Define osmotic pressure
the P. that must be applied in a solution to stop the inflow of water through a partially permeable membrane
What are the functions of globulin?
- antibody functions
- blood transport of:
- lipids by lipoproteins
- iron by transferrin
- copper by caeruloplasmin
What is the function of clotting factors?
convert fibrinogen to fibrin in the clotting cascade
Which clotting factors are not produced by the liver?
VWF and calcium