Biological effects organisms

Absorption, metaboHsm, and biological activities of organic compounds are influenced by molecular interactions with asymmetric biomolecules. These interactions, which involve hydrophobic, electrostatic, inductive, dipole—dipole, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals forces, steric hindrance, and inclusion complex formation give rise to enantioselective differentiation (1,2). Within a series of similar stmctures, substantial differences in biological effects, molecular mechanism of action, distribution, or metaboHc events may be observed. Eor example, (R)-carvone [6485-40-1] (1) has the odor of spearrnint whereas (5)-carvone [2244-16-8] (2) has the odor of caraway (3,4). 

One of the most important tasks in Analytical chemistry is the effective and express microquantity determination of toxic metals and biologically active organic materials in different objects of environment, raw materials and products of food technology and biotechnology. 

A biomarker of susceptibility is an indicator of an inherent or acquired limitation of an organism s ability to respond to the challenge of exposure to a specific xenobiotic substance. It can be an intrinsic genetic or other characteristic or a preexisting disease that results in an increase in absorbed dose, a decrease in the biologically effective dose, or a target tissue response. If biomarkers of susceptibility exist, they are discussed in Section 3.10 Populations That Are Unusually Susceptible. 

Examples of differences in the responses of wildlife organisms to EDCs include the differences in sensitivity to phthalates and bisphenols among mollusks, crustaceans, and amphibians compared to fish. In invertebrates, biological effects are observed at exposures in the ng/L to low pg/L range, compared to high pg/L for most effects in fish (reviewed in Oehtmann et al. 2008). In addition, aquatic mollusks tend to bioconcentrate and bioaccumulate pollutants to a greater level than hsh, possibly owing to poorer capabilities for metabolic detoxification (see Chapter 4, Section 4.3). 

The text is divided into three parts. The first deals with the basic principles underlying the environmental behavior and effects of organic pollutants the second describes the properties and ecotoxicology of major pollutants in reasonable detail the last discusses some issues that arise after consideration of the material in the second part of the text, and looks at future prospects. The groups of compounds represented in the second part of the book are all regarded as pollutants rather than simply contaminants, because they have the potential to cause adverse biological effects at realistic environmental levels. In most cases these effects have been well documented under environmental conditions. The term adverse effects includes harmful effects upon individual organisms, as well as effects at the level of population and above. 

Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE)—The RBE is a factor used to compare the biological effectiveness of absorbed radiation doses (i.e., rad) due to different types of ionizing radiation. More specifically, it is the experimentally determined ratio of an absorbed dose of a radiation in question to the absorbed dose of a reference radiation (typically 60Co gamma rays or 200 keV x rays) required to produce an identical biological effect in a particular experimental organism or tissue (see Quality Factor). 

Radionuclide Critical organ Physical Biological Effective... 

Berg S, Jonsson A. 1984. Analysis of airborne organic lead. In Grandjean P, ed. Biological effects of organolead compounds. Boca Raton, FL CRC Press, 33-42. 

---