Clinical Chemistry Blog Notes 27D

Hi again! It's me again and thank you for reading my previous post about Endocrinology :)

Last week, We were again assigned to a new topic to put into our blog...and it should all about Toxicology.

But before that, well, my birthday is on that same week..so it's time to party!!!

Everything happened according to our plans.
Well almost...

I have headache!!!!! and also accompanied by mild fever...oh no! why now?

Image Credit: http://www.iconoclastmag.com/v2/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/john_lloyd_cruz_cagayan_de_oro_biogesic.jpg

I remembered a commercial here in the televsion...poof!

And so, I asked my friend to help me go to the pharmacy and buy some medicine..and guess what I bought, Acetaminophen.

Thank God, someone invented acetaminophen. haha.

Hmm, Acetaminophen, does it sound familiar? Here in the Philippines we call it Paracetamol. This drug has an Analgesic (for pain relieving) and Anti-pyretic (fever reduction) effects. Thus, this is a really good medicine for my dilemma that day.

Image Credit: http://www.oshmanlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/acetaminophen.jpg

To tell you the truth, I still haven't experienced any adverse and toxic effects from this drug so allow me to some bits of information about this drug.

Did you know that?

Acetaminophen is an over the counter drug which means that anyone who can buy can have an unlimited access to this drug.
As we all know, it one of the most commonly used drugs here in the Philippines.
It is a relatively safe drug but remember everything in excess in bad for you.
The dose which is recommended for this drug is 4 grams per day. Anything more than this is considered to be toxic or detrimental to our health, because if you exceed more than the recommended dosage, your liver will be damaged. This is in turn, will cause acid accumulation in the blood, excessive hemorrhage, clotting disorders and eventually death.

Liver toxicity probably is the most common detrimental effect of Acetaminophen overdose. Normally, this drug is excreted through our liver by the "Hepatic Mixed Function Oxidase System". But when the liver is bombarded with high(toxic) doses of this drug, the liver utilizes another system which is called "Cytochrome P450 enzyme system". But the downside of this system is the production of a by-product called NAPQI (N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine) which has very adverse effects to our liver or hepatic cells.

God is really great because He also designed our body to fight/counter-act the effects of NAPQI, this is through the natural production of Glutathione which its primary action is to neutralize the effects of NAPQI. But there comes a case when all the Glutathione level in our body is depleted, we may given an amino acid called N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to regain Glutathione back and fight the effects of NAPQI.

For more information about Acetaminophen poisoning, please click this link.

For Your Information:

It takes 3-5 days before serum indicators levels of liver damage become abnormal.
Taking-in Acetaminophen should not be done within 10 days consecutively.
Alcoholics should not take acetaminophen more than the recommended dosage.
People with liver diseases should not take acetaminophen, as this would exacerbate the conditions.
The most common laboratory methods which are used in quantifying acetaminophen levels in the serum is by Competitive Enzyme assays, Immunoassay techniques and as well as High-Performance Liquid Chromatography.

Everything I've discussed is under the umbrella of Toxicology.

Image Credit: http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/262/7/d/7da9393cc98b7525610d1ef0d0b99f08-d2dddui.jpg

Toxicology is the study of the detrimental effects of various agents such as chemical, biological and as well as physical agents to the living organisms and also to the environment and also involves the prevention and control of these effects.

The adverse end product of of a series of events which is started by the exposure to different agents such as physical, chemical or biological is Toxicity. Toxicity can manifest in varying forms which ranges from mild dysfunctions to severe organ damages and worst, death. These effects are either reversible or irreversible.

There are Two Types of Toxicity:

Acute Toxicity - this occurs fast by taking high doses of a certain substance.
Chronic Toxicity - this occurs by prolonged exposure and/or accumulation of a substance inside the body.

The Branches of Toxicology are as follows:
1. Clinical Toxicology - which deals with emergencies such as overdoses, poisonings, attempted suicides. It also involves compound identification and quantification, Sign and symptom management, Emergency care--home poisoning and poison control.

Image Credit: http://www.wadsworth.org/chemheme/pix/4122.gif

2. Forensic Toxicology - medico-legal aspects of poisonings. Identification and quantification of poisons and as well as establishing relationship between tissue residual level and probable cause of death.


Image Credit: http://www.aperianlabsolutions.com/ToxLab/Images/history.jpg

3. Industrial Toxicology - deals with the effects of compounds on water, wildlife. Movement of chemicals in the environment--soil, air, water, residual life of chemicals in the environment.

Image Credit: http://www.awareconsulting.net/images/Safety2.jpg

4. Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology - Determining mode of action of chemicals at the molecular level and the effect of chemicals on DNA, cancer genes.

5. Product Development Toxicology -Service and pre-clinical toxicology for product development. Evaluation of full toxic potential of chemicals destined for drug use and establish safe doses for people.

6. Environmental Toxicology - Effects of compounds on water, wildlife. Movement of chemicals in the environment--soil, air, water Residual life of chemicals in the environment.

7.Regulatory Toxicology - Deciphers and analyzes toxicological data for risk estimation. Determines safe level for human drugs, safe level of heavy metals in water and safe levels of pesticides.

Here's a video for some more in-depth discussion about Toxicology:

Video Credit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk-ykYYwbu0

Well that's it for now..Thank you for reading my post and I hope you learned something and this would be helpful for you. See you again for my next post.

Don't forget to reach for your own star!!!

References:
Books:

M. Bishop; Clinical Chemistry: Principles, Procedures, Correlations

D. Calbreath; Clinical Chemistry: A Fundamental Textbook

A.P. Ciulla and D.C. Lehman; Sucess in Clinical Laboratory Science
Links:
Toxicology Definition
Branches of Toxicology

Hi Everyone!!!

Guess what? I'm going to share to you (Yes, you my dear reader) some useful bits of info about a "fun to know" body system...

*drum roll please*

THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM!!!

"The Endocrine System....ahuh?" " What are the substances secreted by the Endocrine glands ( which are also known as the ductless glands) , Hormones?... Glands?

"What on Earth am I pertaining to?!"

Come, spare some time reading and I will discuss some basic information about the world of ENDOCRINOLOGY...

Let's start with the ever boring definition portion.

Endocrinology is a branch of medicine which deals with the study of the Endocrine system of the human body. It also deals with the study of specialized glands and their corresponding Hormones they produce and secrete. This body of knowledge also deals with diseases associated with the endocrine glands and their specific hormones.

Ooookaayyy...I now you are thinking that this is going to be a difficult topic, well worry not because I will just be sharing to you the basics that you have to understand. :)

For starters, let's have a quick overview of the Endocrine System.

The Endocrine system is one of the most important systems in our body that secretes special substances called Hormones. The hormones regulate various activities and functions of the human body. This system has the control of the growth and development, metabolism of the body, the tissue functions and would you believe that it has also something to do with our moods, which means when we are in a good or a bad mood, don't just blame other people or circumstances, we might as well consider our body as the responsible for our mood. :)

The Hormones which are produced and secreted by the glands serve as the chemical messengers and are designed to relay information as well as instructions from one part of the body to the other. The main pathway in which the hormones travel inside our body is through our blood stream. These specialized chemicals are also designed to affect specific part or cells of the body.

The Endocrine Glands are glands of the said system which secrete the hormones, directly into the blood stream instead of using a duct.

Here are the Interaction of the Hormones to their corresponding target cells:

Permissiveness - which means that a hormone can not be secreted or produced without the secretion of another hormone.
Synergism - it happens when there a presence of two or more hormones that express the similar effects but also amplifying their function.
Antagonism - happens when a hormone regulates or reverses the effect or the other.

Now let's begin our journey inside to body and let's meet our different endocrine glands...let's start with our head! The main endocrine found inside our head, just below our brain is the Hypothalamus, which contains various types of neurons which are the ones responsible for the secretion of various hormones.

The Hypothalamus secretes six hormones which include:

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH)
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)
Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH)
Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)
Somatostatin
Dopamine

Fig.1
This shows a picture of the Hormones produced by the Hypothalamus as well as the Pituitary Gland
Image Credit: http://www.themagicisbac.com/bac-files/hypothalamic-complex.jpg

Yes, I know that these are new terms which are not easily memorized, but I promise you, in practice, you will be able to love and understand these new words. You might as well assign some Mnemonics in order to aid memorizing them.

After the Hypothlamus, is a gland which secretes a hormone that regulates our Circadian rhythm ( or our sleep-wake pattern). This gland is called the Pineal Gland and the hormone it secretes is called Melatonin. So if catching some ZZZzzZZzs is your thing, thank your Pineal gland. :)

Next, just below our hypothalamus, there is also a gland which is also known as the "Master Gland" or the Pituitary Gland which secretes hormones which are needed for the other glands in order to function. The Pituitary Gland is divided into two lobes namely: the Anterior Lobe and the Posterior Lobe.

The Anterior (front) Lobe produces the following hormones:

Thyroid-stimulating Hormone (TSH) and is also known commonly as Thyrotropin
Adrenocorticotrophic Hormone (ACTH)
Luteinizing Hormone (LH)
Follicle-stimulating Hormone (FSH)
Growth Hormone (GH)
Melanocyte-stimulating Hormone (MSH)
Prolactin

The Posterior (back) Lobe produces the following hormones:

Vasopressin or also commonly known as the Anti-diuretic Hormone (ADH)
Oxytocin

Fig 2.
This image shows the Hormones of the Pituitary Gland
as well as their corresponding target sites.
Image Credit: http://www.medicalook.com/systems_images/Pituitary_Hormones_large.jpg

As we go deeper inside our body, we head next to the Thyroid Gland. This gland can be located front part of our mid neckline. It is composed of two lateral lobes protruding on each side.

Now these two are the Hormones produced and are secreted to our body by our Thyroid Glands:

Triiodothyronine (T3)
Thyroxine (T4)

Fig. 3
This shows the interaction of the Pituitary gland to the Thyroid gland and
the Thyroid gland to the other cells of the body.
Image Credit: http://www.medcom.co.nz/images/hormones/Thyroidfunction1.gif

The gland has also specialized cells which produces Calcitonin, a hormone which is involved Calcium and Phosphorus metabolism. Located also within the Thyroid gland is the Parathyroid Gland which has Chief cells that produces the Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) which is responsible for the regulation of the Calcium and Phosphorus metabolism.

Traveling further inside our body, we go into our superior (upper) part of our abdomen. Our next endocrine gland is the Pancreas. It has also specialized cells which secrete various hormones responsible for the regulation of the glucose metabolism of our body. The specialized cells include the Islet of Langerhans which produces Glucagon (from the alpha cells) which raises blood sugar levels, Insulin (from beta cells) which functions the opposite of the Glucagon and Somastostatin (from delta cells) which inhibit various hormones and other substances secreted by our body.

Fig. 4
This image shows the different cells of the Pancreas
which secretes their corresponding hormones.
Image Credit: http://media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media/17/74317-004-9B143D52.jpg

Fig. 5
A closer look at the Islet of Langerhans
Image Credit: http://scienceaid.co.uk/biology/humans/images/langerhans.png

Not far from the Pancreas, are the Adrenal Glands. These pair of glands are located just above our kidneys.

The Adrenal Glands has two portions namely the: Adrenal Cortex and Adrenal Medulla.

The Adrenal Cortex produces and secretes three hormones:

Cortisol
11-deoxycortisol
Aldosterone

The Adrenal Medulla on the other produces two namely:

Epinephrine (Adrenaline) also known as Fight or Flight Hormone
Norepinephrine

Fig. 6
The location of the Adrenal Gland as well as the hormones secreted by it.
Image Credit: http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/adcortx.gif

For our last destination, there glands (organs) are gender specific, which also means the hormones they secrete are dependent on the gender of the person. These are also responsible of the specific characteristics of each gender.

As the saying goes, "Ladies first", we will now tackle the female specific glands (organs), the Ovaries. The ovaries are also responsible for producing the egg cells of the female. As for their endocrine function, these secrete Estrogen which exists within the body of females in three forms which are called Estriol, Estradiol and Estrone. Take note that the true ovarian hormone is the Estradiol.

Fig. 7
This image shows the interaction of the Pituitary Gland
and the Ovaries through the use of hormones.
Image Credit: http://professionals.epilepsy.com/img/hormone_2_s.gif

The females also produces Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Hormone or hCG, which is produced by Placenta during pregnancy.

Now for the Males, the glands (organs) are the Testes. The testes are the ones responsible for the production of the sperm cells of the male. And for their endocrine function, these secrete the hormone Testosterone.

Fig. 8
The Testis
Image Credit: http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Images/Cancerinfo/Cancertypes/testicle_2011.jpg

Fig. 9
Chemical Structure of Testoterone
Image Credit: http://www.iimcs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Testosterone1.jpg

Well, that's it for the introduction and the overview of Endocrinology, the Endocrine System as well as the glands and hormones of our body.

Just never forget to reach for our own STARS!!!

Oh by the way, before I forget, there are also other hormones found inside the body which are not secreted by the endocrine glands that we need to be familiar with. These include the hormones which stimulates blood and platelet production; these hormones are the Erythropoietin and Thrombopoietin respectively.

Here a Picture of our Entire Journey of the Endocrine System inside the Human Body: