Manno M, Saia B
Istituto di Medicina del Lavoro, Università degli Studi di Padova.
Med Lav. 1994 Jan-Feb;85(1):11-21.
Biotransformation is an important step in the investigation of occupational toxic chemicals. This is because the knowledge of the metabolic pathways and the enzymes involved in the activation and/or detoxication of xenobiotics may help in understanding the mechanism of toxicity and to rationalize the biological monitoring of exposed subjects. The largest enzymatic system involved in the biotransformation of industrial chemicals is cytochrome P-450, a family of haemoproteins capable of metabolizing a vast number of lipophilic, structurally different compounds. The study of the various metabolic reactions of this peculiar group of enzymes has greatly contributed to a) the clarification of the mode of action of several classes of occupational toxic and/or carcinogenic compounds, such as aromatic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, halogenated alkanes, benzene compounds and others, and b) the improvement of risk assessment in the biological monitoring of the exposed subjects, by allowing the toxicological significance (activation/detoxication) of single metabolites to be better understood.
生物转化是职业性有毒化学物质研究中的重要环节。这是因为了解异生物素的代谢途径以及参与其活化和/或解毒过程的酶，有助于理解毒性机制，并使对接触者的生物监测更加合理。参与工业化学品生物转化的最大酶系统是细胞色素P - 450，它是一类血红蛋白，能够代谢大量亲脂性、结构各异的化合物。对这一特殊酶类的各种代谢反应的研究，在以下两方面做出了巨大贡献：a）阐明了几类职业性有毒和/或致癌化合物（如芳香胺、多环芳烃、卤代烷烃、苯化合物等）的作用方式；b）通过更好地理解单一代谢物的毒理学意义（活化/解毒），改进了对接触者进行生物监测时的风险评估。
