In soil, fertilizers containing inorganic nitrogen and wastes containing organic nitrogen are first decomposed to give ammonia, which is then oxidized to nitrite and nitrate. The nitrate is taken up by plants during their growth and used in the synthesis of organic nitrogenous compounds. Surplus nitrate readily moves with groundwater (2, 3). Under aerobic conditions, it percolates in large quantities into the aquifer because of the small extent to which degradation or denitrification occurs. Under anaerobic conditions, nitrate may be denitrified or degraded almost completely to nitrogen. The presence of high or low water tables, the amount of rainwater, the presence of other organic material, and other physicochemical properties are also important in determining the fate of nitrate in soil ( 4). In surface water, nitrification and denitrification may also occur, depending on the temperature and pH. The uptake of nitrate by plants, however, is responsible for most of the nitrate reduction in surface water. Nitrogen compounds are formed in the air by lightning or discharged into it from industrial processes, motor vehicles, and intensive agriculture. Nitrate is present in air primarily as nitric acid and inorganic aerosols, as well as nitrate radicals and organic gases or aerosols. These are removed by wet and dry deposition.

WHO guidelines for drinking-water quality.

The glutathione S-transferases (GST) represent a major group of detoxification enzymes. All eukaryotic species possess multiple cytosolic and membrane-bound GST isoenzymes, each of which displays distinct catalytic as well as noncatalytic binding properties: the cytosolic enzymes are encoded by at least five distantly related gene families (designated class alpha, mu, pi, sigma, and theta GST), whereas the membrane-bound enzymes, microsomal GST and leukotriene C, synthetase, are encoded by single genes and both have arisen separately from the soluble GST. Evidence suggests that the level of expression of GST is a crucial factor in determining the sensitivity of cells to a broad spectrum of toxic chemicals. In this article the biochemical functions of GST are described to show how individual isoenzymes contribute to resistance to carcinogens, antitumor drugs, environmental pollutants, and products of oxidative stress.A description of the mechanisms of transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulat...

The glutathione S-transferase supergene family: regulation of GST and the contribution of the isoenzymes to cancer chemoprotection and drug resistance.

The immunobiology of cancer immunosurveillance and immunoediting

The biochemistry and medical significance of the flavonoids.

The emergence of tissue engineering raises new possibilities for the study of complex physiological and pathophysiological processes in vitro. Many tools are now available to create 3D tissue models in vitro, but the blueprints for what to make have been slower to arrive. We discuss here some of the 'design principles' for recreating the interwoven set of biochemical and mechanical cues in the cellular microenvironment, and the methods for implementing them. We emphasize applications that involve epithelial tissues for which 3D models could explain mechanisms of disease or aid in drug development.

Capturing complex 3D tissue physiology in vitro.

Hepatocyte-mediated, but not S9-mediated mutagenicity correlates with the carcinogenicity of methylbenz[a]anthracenes

Th e author thanks ECNIS (Environmental Cancer,
Nutrition and Individual Susceptibility), a network of
excellence operating within the European Union 6th
Framework Program, Priority 5: Food Quality and Safety
(Contract no. 513943) for financial support.

Importance of knowledge on drug metabolism for the safe use of drugs in humans

Treatment of confluent cultures of human diploid fibroblasts with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) (10(-7) M) resulted in a 70% reduction of the glutathione (GSH) content, compared with untreated controls. The effect, which was dose-dependent, was observed 8 h after the beginning of the treatment could be followed for up to 72 h. On the other hand, GSH reduction was specific for confluent cultures, as the level of glutathione remained unchanged by TPA treatment of sparse cultures. The addition of immobilized plasma membrane proteins to sparsely seeded cells has been shown previously to induce cellular reactions which are characteristic for confluent cultures. It was shown that TPA treatment of sparse cultures grown in the presence of immobilized plasma membrane proteins also resulted in a 70% reduction of glutathione content. These data agree with the postulated involvement of redox reactions in tumor promotion, and point to a central role of cell-cell contacts in the regulation of biochemical events which are critical in tumorigenesis.

Reduction of glutathione content by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate in confluent, but not in sparse cultures of human diploid fibroblasts.

The conjugation products of several reactive quinones with glutathione have been identified by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. Appropriate conditions have been developed which enabled the direct, dynamic mass spectral analysis of spontaneous, as well as glutathione transferase catalysed conjugation reactions. Applications to a series of quinones provided the direct detection and differentiation of the formation of mono- and bisglutathionyl adducts between regioisomeric quinone substrates in that only 1,4-quinones yielded bisglutathionyl adducts, which were not observed for the 1,2-isomers.

Conjugation reactions of polyaromatic quinones to mono- and bisglutathionyl adducts: Direct analysis by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry

Many foreign compounds are transformed into reactive metabolites, which may produce genotoxic effects by chemically altering critical biomolecules. Reactive metabolites are under the control of activating, inactivating and precursor sequestering enzymes. Such enzymes are under the long-term control of induction and repression, as well as the short-term control of post-translational modification and low molecular weight activators or inhibitors. In addition, the efficiency of these enzyme systems in preventing reactive metabolite-mediated toxicity is directed by their subcellular compartmentalization and isoenzymic multiplicity. Extrapolation from toxicological test systems to the human requires information of these variables in the system in question and in man. Differences in susceptibility to toxic challenges between species and individuals are often causally linked to differences in these control factors.

Franz Oesch

Papers

Hepatocyte-mediated, but not S9-mediated mutagenicity correlates with the carcinogenicity of methylbenz[a]anthracenes

Importance of knowledge on drug metabolism for the safe use of drugs in humans

Reduction of glutathione content by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate in confluent, but not in sparse cultures of human diploid fibroblasts.

Conjugation reactions of polyaromatic quinones to mono- and bisglutathionyl adducts: Direct analysis by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry

Toxicological Implications of Enzymatic Control of Reactive Metabolites