Sage-Tips

What are xenobiotics and their examples?

INTRODUCTION. Xenobiotic is a term used to describe chemical substances that are foreign to animal life and thus includes such examples as plant constituents, drugs, pesticides, cosmetics, flavorings, fragrances, food additives, industrial chemicals and environmental pollutants.

What do xenobiotics do?

Xenobiotics have been defined as chemicals to which an organism is exposed that are extrinsic to the normal metabolism of that organism. Without metabolism, many xenobiotics would reach toxic concentrations. Most metabolic activity inside the cell requires energy, cofactors, and enzymes in order to occur.

What do you mean by xenobiotic compounds?

A xenobiotic (Greek, xenos “foreign”; bios “life”) is a compound that is foreign to a living organism. A xenobiotic is a chemical substance found within an organism that is not naturally produced or expected to be present within the organism.

What are the types of xenobiotics?

1.1. 1 Types of Xenobiotics. Environmental pollutants, hydrocarbons, food additives, oil mixtures, pesticides, otherxenobiotics, synthetic polymers, carcinogens, drugs, and antioxidants are the major groups of xenobiotics.

Are all xenobiotics also toxins?

Xenobiotics causing a variety of toxicity in biological systems could be classified as two types, inorganic and organic chemicals. It is estimated that the organic xenobiotics are responsible for approximately 80~90\% of chemical-induced toxicity in human population.

Which of the following is a xenobiotic compound?

These compounds are produced as plastics, e.g., polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride etc., and nylons which are used as garments, wrapping materials etc. They are recalcitrant mainly due to their insolubility in water and molecular size.

How xenobiotics can cause toxicity?

Toxic mechanisms, of organic xenobiotics, have been explained on the basis of a cascade of events starting with exposure, proceeding through distribution and metabolism, and ending with the interaction with cellular macromolecules. This process is simply expressed as toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics (1).

How do I get rid of xenobiotics?

The body removes xenobiotics by xenobiotic metabolism. This consists of the deactivation and the excretion of xenobiotics and happens mostly in the liver. Excretion routes are urine, feces, breath, and sweat.

What is fate of xenobiotics?

Xenobiotics are chemicals that are taken up into the body from exogenous sources, either ingested with the food we eat or imbibed with the water we drink, but may also be contained in the air we breathe and absorbed through our skin and lungs. From there they pass through the cells back into the body.

What are endogenous xenobiotics?

4. Xenobiotics Xenobiotics can be- b) Endogenous – Though they are not foreign substances but have effects similar to exogenous xenobiotics. These are synthesized in the body or are produced as metabolites of various processes in the body. Examples-Bilirubin, Bile acids, Steroids, Eicosanoids and certain fatty acids.

Is alcohol an xenobiotic?

Alcohol as a Xenobiotic Cytochrome P450 is inducible by chronic ethanol consumption and its activity is increased by three to five-fold in liver of alcoholics [32].

What are xenobiotic chemicals?

Xenobiotic means ‘foreign to life’. It is a term applied to many recalcitrant organic chemicals. These are synthetic chemicals and are not found in nature. They will contain structural elements that are unknown or rare in nature and/or are assembled in a structure which is not of natural occurrence.

Do xenobiotics have estrogenic effects?

Many of the xenobiotics have been found to have estrogenic effects that adversely affect male fertility. Other environmental agents such as heat, radiation, hypoxia, heavy physical exertion, and psychological stress may also contribute to altered fertility in men [12]. Wanda M. Haschek,

Are xenobiotics persistent organic pollutants?

Xenobiotics with complex structural features considered as persistent organic pollutants are ubiquitous in the environment. In recent decades, they have increased the health risks to all living beings at an alarming rate as they are resistant to biodegradation or they undergo incomplete biodegradation/biotransformation.

What would happen to a xenobiotic without metabolism?

Without metabolism, many xenobiotics would reach toxic concentrations. Most metabolic activity inside the cell requires energy, cofactors, and enzymes in order to occur. Xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes can be divided into phase I, phase II, and transporter enzymes.