CELL BODY DEFENSE

OVERVIEW OF BIOCHEMISTRY
 OUTLINE
• INTRODUCTION
• MOLECULAR ORGANIZATION OF CELL
• CELLULAR BASIS OF BIOCHEMISTRY
• SUBCELLULAR ORGANELLES
• CLINCAL APPLICATIONS OF SOME
SUBORGANELLES
• CHEMICAL BASIS OF BIOCHEMISTRY
• ROLE OF BIOCHEMISTRY IN MEDICINE
 INTRODUCTION TO
BIOCHEMISTRY
• Biochemistry (BCH)is the science that study the
chemical basis of life.(Greek bios ‘life’)
• Biochemistry is defined as science of the
chemical
constituent of living cells and of the reactions
and processes
• Biochemistry describes in molecular terms the
structure, mechanisms and chemical processes
shared by all organisms and provides organizing
principles that underlies life in all its diverse
forms
 Molecular basis of biochemistry

Fig 1 Structural hierarchy in the molecular organization of cells

Introduction to Biochemistry cont’d
• Biochemistry encompasses large areas of
cell biology, molecular biology and
molecular genetics
• the unity and diversity of organisms
become apparent even at the cellular level
• The smallest organisms consist of single
cells and are microscopic
• Larger, multicellular organisms contain
many different types of cells which vary in
size, shape and specialized function
The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry

Fig 2.The common components of human cell

The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
cont’d
• Cells are the structural and functional units of
all living organisms
• Cells of all kind share certain structural features:
The plasma membrane(PM) defined the
periphery of the cell, seperating its content
from the surroundings
• Highly selective permeability properties
• PM composed of lipids, protein molecules and
small amount of carbohydrates; that form a thi
n ,tough, pliable hydrophobic barrier around the
cell
• The content of these compound vary according
to the nature of the membrane
 The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
cont’d
• The carbohydrates –present as glycoproteins
and glycolipids
• The lipids -most abundant fatty acids present
are Phospholipids. Also contain cholesterol
• The PM is a barrier to free passage of
inorganic ions and most other charged or
polar compounds
• Ecto-enzymes –enzyme ,nuccleotide
phosphatase (5’ nucleotidase) and alkaline
phosphatase are seen on the outer part of cell
membrane
The cellular basis of Biochemistry

Fig. 3. The Fluid Mosaic Model of Membrane

Fig 4. The basic structure of human plasma membrane –showing membrane pro
 The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
cont’d
SPECIALISED MEMBRANE STRUCTURES
• Intercellular connections: tight junction, gap
junction, cell adhesion molecules (adherens)
• Myelin sheath
• Microvilli
• Membrane of Organelles
• Cytoskeleton
• Molecular motors
Specialised membrane structures
•cont’d
Two types of junctions form between the cells
that make up tissues :
1. junctions that fasten the cells to one another and
to surrounding tissues
2. junctions that permit transfer of ions and other
molecules from one cell to another.
• The types of junctions that tie cells together and
endow tissues with strength and stability include
the tight junction, also known as the zonula
occludens
• The desmosome and zonula adherens hold cells
together, and the hemidesmosome and focal
adhesion attach cells to their basal laminas
• The junction by which molecules are transferred
is the gap junction
Specialised membrane structures
cont’d
Tight junction –formed by approximation of
two cells in certain areas
• Also seal off subepithelial spaces of organs
from the lumen
• Contain specialized proteins-occludin,
claudins and other adhesion molecules
• Location: epithelia such as intestinal mucosa,
the walls renal tubules and choroid plexus
(blood brain barrier)
• Permits ions , solutes and other small
molecules through from one to another
through narrow hydrophilic pores
• prevent the movement of proteins in the
plane of the membrane, helping to
maintain the different distribution of
transporters and channels in the apical
and basolateral cell membrane that make
transport across the epithelia possible
• Absence of tight junction- altered
permeability and implicated in loss of
contact inhibition in cancer cells
• Adherens: it is a major site of attachment
for intracellular microfilaments. It contains
cadherins
• The cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) can be divided
into four broad families:
• (1) integrins, heterodimers that bind to various
receptors
• (2) adhesion molecules of the IgG superfamily of
immunoglobulins
• (3) cadherins, Ca²⁺-dependent molecules that
mediate cell-to-cell adhesion by homophilic reactions
and
• (4) selectins, which have lectin-like domains that bind
carbohydrates.
The functions of CAMs
• Anchoring cells to their neighbour laminas
• Permit signals in & out of cells;
• maintain cellular integrity, regulation of cellular
activity and processes, secretion of vascular
molecules, modulate inflammatory process
Gap junctions:
• At gap junctions, the intercellular space narrows ,
from 2.5 nm to 3 nm,
• units called connexons in the membrane of each
cell are lined up with one another
• Each connexon is made up of six protein subunits
called connexins
• They permits substances to pass between the cells
without entering the ECF
• The diameter of the channel is normally about 2 nm,
which permits the passage of ions, sugars, amino
acids, and other solutes with molecular weights up
to about 1000
• Gap junctions thus permit the rapid propagation of
electrical activity from cell to cell in nervous system
• permit the exchange of various chemical
messengers
(hormones and growth factors)
 Specialised membrane structures
cont’d
Myelin sheath;
• Made up of the membrane of Schwann cells
(Theodor Schwann ,1858) condensed and
spiralled many times around the central axons
• The cytoplasm of Schwann cells is squeezed
to one side of the cell
• Myelin composed of- sphingomyelin,
cholesterol and cerebroside
• Myelin sheath- Node of Ranvier, propagation
of nerve impulse is wave-like, speed up
propagation of neural transmission
Specialised membrane structures
cont’d
• Microvilli- of intestinal epithelial cells and
pseudopodia of macrophages are
produced by membrane evagination(due
to fluid nature of the membrane).
Increased surface area for absorption
• Membranes of organelle-the membranes
of endoplasmic reticulum, nucleus,
lysosomes and outer layer of
mitochondria are considered as variants
of plasma membrane; % of proteins varies
from 20% in myelin sheath to over 70% in
the inner membranes of mitochondria
 Specialised membrane structure
cont’d
• Cytoskeleton: The cytoplasm is organized
by the cytoskeleton and is highly dynamic
• Fluorescence microscopy reveals several
types of proteins filaments criss-crossing
the eukaryotic cells forming an interlocking
three-dimensional meshwork-the
cytoskeleton
• There are three general types of
cytoplasmic filaments-actin filament,
microtubules and intermediate filaments
(formed by polymerization of proteins such
as keratins)
• These filaments differ in width (6-22nm),
composition and specific function
 Specialised membrane structure
cont’d
• These function to provide structure and
organization to the cytoplasm and distinctive
shape to the cell and enables it to transport
vesicles, undergo changes in shape and migrate
• Actin filaments(microfilament-multimers of
protein actin) and microtubules(multimers of
the protein tubulin) help to produce the motion
of organelles or whole cell
• Microtubules play a major role during cell
division-form spindle fibres that separate the
chromosomes during the M phase of cell
division
The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
cont’d
• The cytoplasm; is the internal volume
enclosed by the plasma membrane (PM)
• Composed of an aqueous solution, the
cytosol (part of cell in which organized
components cannot be detected) and a
variety of suspended particles with specific
functions
• The cytosol is a highly concentrated solution
containing enzymes and the RNA molecules
that encode them; hundred of small organic
molecules called metabolites, intermediate
in biosynthetic and degradative pathways
The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
cont’d
• Cells with envelope are called Eukaryote;
the nucleus of eukaryotes contains the
DNA organized into separate
chromosomes
• Microorganisms without nuclear
envelopes formerly grouped together as
prokaryotes(Greek pro ‘before’ )are now
recognized as comprising two very
distinct groups: Bacteria and Archaea
 The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
•
cont’d
NUCLEUS-most prominent organelle of the cell.
All cells contain nucleus ,except mature RBCs in
circulation. The uppermost layer of skin, may not
possess a readily identifiable nucleus.
• Enclosed by two membranes: the inner layer
called perinuclear membrane with numerous
pores. The outer membrane is continous with
membranes of ER
• Nucleus contains the DNA; DNA molecules are
complexed with proteins to form chromatin and
are further organized into chromosomes
• DNA replication and RNA synthesis (transcription)
occur inside the nucleus while RNA processing
and ribosome synthesis –occur in the nucleolus=
a portion of nucleus, very prominent in cells
actively synthesizing proteins
Fig 5. The Nucleus three dimensional drawing
 The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
cont’d
Endoplasmic Reticulum ER-network of
interconnecting membranes enclosing
channels or cisternae, continous from
outer nuclear membrane
• Prominent in cells actively synthesizing
proteins e.g immunoglobulin secreting
plasma cells, proteins, glycoproteins and
lipoproteins are synthesized in ER
• Detoxification of various drugs-
microsomal cytochrome P-450
• Synthesis of cholesterol + steroids
 The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
• cont’d
ER –classified into smooth and rough
• When cells are fractionated, the complex ER is
disrupted in many places; automatically re-
assembled to form microsomes
The mitochondria: power house of a cell
• Unique organelles within the cytoplasm and
lack a direct interaction with other organelles
• Contain some mDNA, expressed to produce
some mitochondrial protein; derived mostly
from the cytoplasm
• Mitochondrial membranes ,about 6.5nm thick
with the inner membrane folded to form
cristae-substantially increasing the total
membranous surface of the organelle
 The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
cont’d
• The inner surfaces of the cristae are closely
packed with 8.5nm diameter particles-the site
of oxidative phosphorylation
• The central part of the organelle is known as
the matrix
• Major source of energy in the form of ATP
produced by the respiratory chain
• Involved in fatty acid catabolism and
• Help to control the level of calcium in the
cytoplasm
• Enzymes present = NADPH oxidase,
succinate dehydrogense, ATP synthase
Fig 6. The Intracellular locations of some biochemical pathways
 The Cellular Basis of Biochemistry
cont’d
• Lysosomes :membrane-bound vesicles
containing a wide range of hydrolytic
enzymes, break down the various types of
macromolecules
• important in intracellular digestive system
• Degradation and phagocytosis e.g
substances or components of the cell that
are to be degraded form phagosomes,
fuse with the lysosomes to form
secondary lysosomes
 The Chemical Basis of
Biochemistry
Chemical foundation
• fewer than 30 of >90 naturally occuring chemical
elements are essential to organisms
• The four(4) most abundant elements in living organisms,
in terms of total number of atoms are: hydrogen, oxygen,
nitrogen and carbon; together make up >99% of the most
cells
• They are lightest elements capable of forming efficiently
one, two, three and four bonds respectively
• In general, the lightest element form the strongest bonds
• The trace elements represent the miniscule fraction of the
weight of the body, but all are essential to life, because
they are essential to the function of specific proteins ,
including many enzymes
• The oxygen-transporting capacity of the Hb-molecule is
absolutely dependent on 4 Iron ions that make up only
0.3% of its mass
Fig 7. Elements essential to animal life and Health . Bulk
elements(orange),are structural components of cells and tissues ;
required in the diet in gram quantities daily.
For traced element (bright yellow) requirement, are much smaller .For
humans
a few milligrams per day of Fe, Cu and Zn
The Physical Basis of Biochemistry
• Living cell and organisms must perform work
to stay alive and to reproduce themselves
• the synthetic reactions that occur within cells
require the input of energy
• Energy input is also needed in the motion
bacterium, for storage and expression of
information without which structures rich in
information inevitably become disordered
• In the course of evolution, cells have
developed highly efficient mechanisms for
coupling the energy obtained from sunlight
or chemical fuels to many energy-requiring
processes they must carry out
The Physical Basis of Biochemistry
cont’d
• A living organism is an open system; it
exchanges both matter and energy with its
surroundings
• Organisms derive energy from their
surroundings in two ways:
(1)they take up chemical fuels (such as
glucose) from the environment and
extract energy by oxidising them
(2)They absorbed energy from sunlight
Fig 8. Some energy interconversions in living organism
Roles of biochemistry in medicine
• Biochemistry impacts enormously on both
understanding and maintenance of health;
understanding and effective treatment of
diseases
• The interrelation between biochemistry
and medicine is a wide, two way street ,
the study of various aspects of health and
disease has opened up new areas of
biochemistry
Roles of biochemistry in medicine

Figure 9. examples of the two= way street connecting biochemistry and medicine
 Roles of biochemistry in medicine
cont’d
• A knowledge of biochemistry is essential to all
life sciences
• The biochemistry of the nucleic acid lies at the
heart of genetics,-critical for elucidating many
areas of biochemistry
• Physiology, the study of body function overlaps
with biochemistry almost completely
• Immunology employs numerous biochemical
techniques and many immunology approaches
have found wide use by biochemists
• Pharmacology and pharmacy rest on a
knowledge of biochemistry and physiology in
particular most drugs are metabolized by
enzyme-catalyzed reactions; the actions of drug
is executed via drug-receptor complex
 Roles of biochemistry in medicine
cont’d
• Toxicology, poisons acts on biochemical
reactions or processes
• Biochemical approaches are being used
increasingly to study basic aspects of
pathology (the study of diseases) such as
inflammation, cell injury and cancer from
oxidant/antioxidant imbalance
• On the basis of biochemical characteristics
the diverse organisms of the modern world
can be divided into three fundamental
groups called domains
Roles of biochemistry in medicine cont’d
Evolutionary Diversities of Organisms

Fig 10. Phylogeny of the diversities of life based on biochemical properties

 The Roles of Biochemistry in Medicine cont’d

Microorganisms
are
classified as Gram
positive and gram
negative based on
ability to take up
stain

Fig 11. Classification based on biochemical

 Classification of organisms
according to the source of energy

Fig 12. Classification based on source of energy

 Assignments
1). Discuss the role of biochemistry
in medical practice
2). Relevant fields in biochemistry
THANK YOU