Biotransformation

What is biotransformation? Biotransformation is defined as the series of chemical altercations of a compound occurring within the body as by enzymatic activity. What this means is that we are constantly taking in substances that are transformed by the body for its use. Biotransformation focuses on four areas of toxicokinetics. They are absorption, distribution, storage and elimination. First, absorption is when the drug leaves the administration point and enters into your blood stream.
We are constantly consuming different medications and drugs without considering what they could be doing or even how they can be affecting our bodies. Basically what is happening during biotransformation is that our bodies have a complicated process of your bodies goes through to metabolize medications. Furthermore what this is explaining is the ways in which our bodies are able to flush medication that we have previously consumed out of our system. If we did not have this process of biotransformation, the medication would not metabolize and therefore stay in our system for long periods  of time possibly causing people to experience severe health effects that could lead to unwanted problems.

It is important to take into account factors that can influence or have an effect on a individuals ability to metabolize medication properly and efficiently. This factors can consist of an individual’s family’s medical history, if the individuals is currently in a state of disease or illness, with that being said age and  sex play a role, and lastly how well the individual is eating, having a good nutritional diet. In addition to the factors that I just listed, there is a direct correlation between these factors and how effectively our bodies are able to carry out the biotransformation process. These factors can cause severe changes to the body.  This is crucial because if an individual is unable to correctly metabolize medication consumed, the substance will stay in the individual’s body causing possible harm.

Biotransformation is to make a medications within the body water-soluble, meaning that it will be easier to dispose and therefore leave the body. Our bodies perform biotransformation in many of our large organs. However the most commonly known organ that uses biotransformation is our liver. And this is because our liver has high concentrations of enzymes. With that being said, enzymes are facilitators that help with the rate at which the chemical reacts to the process of biotransformation. Furthermore there are two stage of this, categorized as phase 1 and phase 2.

When a parent drug comes in and passes through the liver, it is going through stage 1 that is referred to as modification. The process of modification occurs when a substance goes through one of three chemical reactions. These chemical reactions include oxidation, hydrolysis, or hydroxylation. The reactions can become familiarized or reveal a functional group to the substance called a metabolite.

Phase 2 is referred to as conjugation. Conjugation with endogenous molecules: glucuronic acid, sulfate, glutathione form covalent bonds. This creates a biosynthesis of polarity. Essentially this is important to understand because the more polar a compound is, the more water-soluble it is. This allows for speedy and efficient absorption and elimination.