The role of the cytochrome system in the biotransformation of xenobiotics and pharmacaueticals (review)

Modern science refers to substances that are potentially toxic and not natural metabolites for the mammalian organism as xenobiotics. Due to the intensification of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, the concentration of such compounds in the air, water, soil, and animal feed increases proportionally to the increase in production turnover of specialized enterprises. The biotransformation of xenobiotics and medicines, or the detoxification process, is a natural and most effective way to remove foreign metabolites from a living organism. Special enzyme systems take an active part in this process, including the cytochrome system. The functions and role of individual types of P450 cytochromes in the process of xenobiotic biotransformation in animals and humans have been partially studied, but a significant number of enzymes are at the research stage. The review provides the analysis of the results of 60 scientific articles on the problem of biotransformation of xenobiotics by the cytochrome systems, the basic features of this process are revealed and the estimates of its application for the diagnostics of different pathologies is given.