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.

Chronic administration of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) to rats gives rise to hepatocellular and cholangiocellular carcinomas without affecting Kupffer and endothelial cells. The enzymatic conversion of AFB1 to AFB1-8,9-epoxide is the critical step in the activation of the myocotoxin, while the conversion of AFB1 to aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), catalyzed by the AFB1-9a-hydroxylase, is considered to be a detoxication route for the toxin. In the present study the distribution and inducibility of AFB1-9a-hydroxylase were analyzed in microsomes derived from freshly isolated liver parenchymal (PC) and nonparenchymal cells (i.e. Kupffer + endothelial cells, NPC). AFB1-9a-hydroxylase activity was clearly measurable in NPC and similar to that of PC. In NPC the rate of formation of AFM1 was higher (when incubating with 16 microM AFB1) than or similar (with 128 microM AFB1) to that of AFB1-8,9-epoxide, while in PC it was significantly lower. Taken together, these results suggest that the AFB1-9a-hydroxylase activity might be particularly important in NPC to protect these cells from AFB1 by converting it to a significantly less mutagenic metabolite and by reducing the amount of AFB1 available for epoxidation. Furthermore, it is shown that AFB1-9a-hydroxylase activity is inducible by phenobarbital (only in PC), 3-methylcholanthrene, isosafrole and Aroclor 1254, thus indicating that in rat liver the conversion of AFB1 to AFM1 is catalyzed by members of the cytochrome 1A and 2B families.

Distribution and induction of aflatoxin B1-9a-hydroxylase activity in rat liver parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells

Die Aktivierung der C‐2‐Position von Purin durch die Trifluormethansulfonatgruppe: Synthese von N2‐alkylierten Desoxyguanosinen

A highly sensitive assay for epoxide hydrolase using an endogenous epoxide as substrate: 16α, 17α-epoxyandrost-4-en-3-one

Chirality and the Induction of Xenobiotic-Metabolizing Enzymes: Effects of the Atropisomers of 2,2;3,4,4;6-Hexachlorobiphenyl

Synthesis of Stereoisomeric N 6-Deoxyadenosine Adducts of syn- and anti- Dihydrodiol Epoxides of Benzo[a]pyrene and Their Incorporation into 18-mer DNA Sequences from Human Ha-ras Protooncogene

Franz Oesch

Papers

Distribution and induction of aflatoxin B1-9a-hydroxylase activity in rat liver parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells

Die Aktivierung der C‐2‐Position von Purin durch die Trifluormethansulfonatgruppe: Synthese von N2‐alkylierten Desoxyguanosinen

A highly sensitive assay for epoxide hydrolase using an endogenous epoxide as substrate: 16α, 17α-epoxyandrost-4-en-3-one

Chirality and the Induction of Xenobiotic-Metabolizing Enzymes: Effects of the Atropisomers of 2,2;3,4,4;6-Hexachlorobiphenyl

Synthesis of Stereoisomeric N 6-Deoxyadenosine Adducts of syn- and anti- Dihydrodiol Epoxides of Benzo[a]pyrene and Their Incorporation into 18-mer DNA Sequences from Human Ha-ras Protooncogene