Toxicological Biochemistry   (424B2)

Academic year:

2025/2026.

Attendance requirements:

201B2 + 202B2 + 062B2

ECTS:

6

Study level:

Study program:

Teacher:

Milan R. Nikolić, Ph.D.
associate professor, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Beograd

Assistants:

—

Hours of instruction:

Weekly: two hours of lectures + three hours of labwork (2+0+3)

Goals:

The goal of this course is to help students acquire knowledge of the interactions of toxic (foreign) substances and the human body at the molecular level, biotransformations and bioactivation/bioinactivation of toxic substances, their interactions with bio(macro)molecules, and to help students master experimental skills necessary for working in toxicology laboratories.

Outcome:

Students understand: general concepts in toxicology; the process of biotransformation of foreign substances; the molecular aspects of the toxic effects of substances, the relationship between the structure and the activity of toxic substances; biochemical foundations of the manifestation of the toxicity of substances in target organs. Students have mastered the basic methods and techniques used in biochemical toxicology laboratories.

Teaching methods:

Lectures, experimental exercises, term paper.

Extracurricular activities:

—

Coursebooks:

Main coursebooks:

• Casarett & Doull's Essentials of Toxicology, Third Edition (Lange). 2015. McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN-13: 978-0071847087.
• Ljuba Mandić: Uputstva za vežbe iz toksikološke biohemije (interni materijal).
• Lectures' power-point presentations (Professor Dr. Ljuba Mandić and Dr. Milan Nikolić).

Supplementary coursebooks:

• John A. Timbrell. Principles of Biochemical Toxicology, 4th Edition. 2008. CRC Press. ISBN-13: 978-0849373022.

• Selected review papers.

Additional material:

—

Lectures:

10 points (2 hours a week)

Syllabus:

– The subject, historical development, multidisciplinary character and biochemical significance of toxicology as the "science of poisons";

– Biochemical fate of toxic substances in the human body (intake, absorption, transport, distribution, deposition and elimination of toxicants and their metabolits);

– Biotransformations of xenobiotics (phase I and phase II reactions, bio(in)activation and detoxification of toxicants) and the factors which influence these processes;

– Biochemical mechanisms of the toxicity of xenobiotics (acute and chronic toxicity, mutagenicity, genotoxicity/carcinogenicity, teratogenicity of toxicants);

– Toxic effects of xenobiotics/toxicants on target tissues and organs (blood, skin, liver, kidneys, lungs, nervous system).

Toxicokinetics (what does the organism do to the toxicant and/or its metabolite?) and toxicodynamics (what does the toxicant and/or its metabolite do to the organism?) of xenobiotics (foreign substances) are discussed using examples of the harmful effects of gases, organophosphorus pesticides and chemical weapons, organochlorine pesticides, alcohols, aromatic organic solvents, proteins and other natural poisons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and selected drugs.

Labwork:

20 points (3 hours a week)

Syllabus:

Experimental topics:

• Examination of the toxic effects of heavy metals;
• Examination of the toxic effects of gases;
• Examination of the toxic effects of alcohols;
• Examination of the toxic effects of aromatic organic solvents;
• Examination of the toxic effects of organophosphate pesticides;
• Principles of drugs and other xenobiotics toxicity testing.

Semester papers:

20 points

Oral exam:

50 points