Textbook - BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY - Gubsky Yu.I. - 2000

PREFACE

Biological chemistry, or biochemistry, is a fundamental biomedical science and academic discipline that studies the Chemical composition of Living Organisms and the chemical transformations undergone by the molecules that comprise them.

Throughout the 20th century, The Development of the life sciences as a whole was marked by the growing importance of molecular-level thinking, conceptual approaches, and Research Methods. It is becoming increasingly clear that only by uncovering the chemical, physicochemical, molecular, and submolecular patterns underlying the functioning of living systems can we master the internal mechanisms of Pathogenesis for major human diseases—Cancer, cardiovascular, viral, genetic, and neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as immunodeficiencies—and decode the mechanisms of Aging that determine the lifespan of Homo sapiens as a biological species. In line with this fundamental premise, modern biochemistry and its offshoots—molecular biology and biotechnology—are increasingly becoming the foundation of theoretical medicine, shaping the development of other biomedical sciences, particularly physiology, Morphology, immunology, microbiology, virology, and ecology.

In higher medical educational institutions of Ukraine, biochemistry is traditionally taught during the third and fourth semesters, forming, alongside other biomedical disciplines, the foundation for the subsequent study of general pathology and clinical subjects, as well as the development of a physician's scientific worldview. Consequently, the biochemistry course studied by students at medical universities or relevant faculties of general universities must contain scientific information primarily concerning the biochemical processes occurring in the bodies of healthy and sick individuals. Mastering this information is a prerequisite for acquiring knowledge about the MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF both physiological Functions and the development of pathological processes. Furthermore, Structure/19.html">The Importance of a deep understanding of biochemical processes in The Human Body is steadily growing due to the fact that biochemical and molecular-biological approaches and methods are playing an increasingly vital role in Diagnostics, disease monitoring, and Treatment efficacy.

The Study of Cellular molecular Organization within the biochemistry course—specifically Introduction/36.html">Biological Membranes, the nuclear genetic apparatus, the ribosomal Protein Synthesis system, and The regulatory mechanisms of biochemical reactions underlying the physiological functions of humans and higher animals in both health and disease—is also of fundamental importance for developing means and methods to pharmacologically correct impaired metabolic processes. A landmark achievement of biochemical pharmacology has been the creation of highly effective cardiotropic, neurotropic, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and anti-infective agents. For example, elucidating the MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR foundations of how Neurotransmitters and physiologically active compounds with psychoactive properties affect biochemical processes in Brain Neurons, along with investigating the molecular biology of Membrane Receptors for Biogenic Amines and Neuropeptides, has established the scientific framework for the targeted synthesis of psychotropic drugs. Given this, The Study of biological chemistry is particularly crucial for students' subsequent mastery of general and clinical pharmacology (medical faculties), pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacotherapy, and clinical pharmacy (pharmaceutical faculties).

The end of the 20th century was marked by a new wave of infectious diseases, particularly of viral origin. According to many scientists, the spread of the AIDS virus has posed a genuine threat to human existence, presenting fundamentally new scientific challenges to microbial biochemistry and medical microbiology. The study of microbial molecular biology and genetics, the structural and biosynthetic features of viral and bacterial DNA and RNA, and developments in Recombinant DNA technology are becoming increasingly urgent tasks for biochemical science, which must be reflected in relevant curricula.

Thus, teaching biochemistry in higher medical educational institutions requires carefully selecting, from the vast body of modern scientific information regarding biochemical patterns across various evolutionary levels, precisely those details that constitute the subject of medical medicine. At the same time, the author believes that despite the professional orientation and specific profiling of the educational material taught, the biochemistry course within the higher medical education system must strictly retain the character of a fundamental biological discipline that provides a foundational university education for future specialists. Therefore, the core STRUCTURE OF THE textbook is built upon presenting the Current state of knowledge regarding the structure, biological functions, and Biosynthesis of The main classes of Biomacromolecules—Proteins and Nucleic Acids—along with the fundamentals of enzymology, Bioenergetics, membranology, Molecular Genetics, the mechanisms and interrelationships of various biomolecule METABOLISM, and the regulation patterns by physiologically active compounds such as intracellular messengers and Hormones, many of which are used in modern clinical practice as effective new-generation Pharmaceuticals (insulins, Steroids, interferons, immunomodulators, etc.).

Biochemistry, alongside molecular biology, is one of the most advanced natural sciences of our time; therefore, resolving this dual didactic task is only possible through careful, critical Selection and logical Structuring of educational material. The teaching of fundamental theoretical principles of biochemistry over the two semesters allocated for this course in higher education is supported by studying biochemical statics and MODERN CONCEPTS OF biomolecular structure within bioorganic chemistry—a course that in most medical universities precedes biochemistry and concludes with a final examination In the second academic semester (see: Bioorganic Chemistry: A Textbook / Yu.I. Gubsky et al. - K.: Vyshcha Shkola, 1997). The development of pathobiochemical elements incorporated into the textbook is best revisited at a higher scientific and methodological level within a separate course—clinical biochemistry—which is appropriately taught at medical faculties in the fifth and sixth years, following the completion of core clinical disciplines in the therapeutic and surgical cycles.

This proposed textbook is based on many years of teaching experience at the Department of Bioorganic and Biological Chemistry of the O.O. Bogomolets National Medical University. It introduces a fundamentally new type of textbook for higher medical educational institutions, and all comments and suggestions for its improvement will be gratefully received. The author expresses deep gratitude to the faculty of the department for their participation in discussing and formulating the conceptual framework for teaching biochemistry within the higher medical education system.