Importance of biotransformation pathways for interpreting biological monitoring of exposure.
A detailed characterisation of the biotransformation pathways followed by the chemical of interest is, evidently, of primordial importance to design reliable biomonitoring programs. This short overview discusses some recent studies that are of potential interest for the development of new avenues of research. Four topics are addressed: tissue localisation of the metabolic process; importance of speciation; metabolic interactions and polymorphism and interindividual variability. While some of these studies offer new data that is directly useful for practical application, others raise mainly questions and indicate that there is still a large effort of research to be performed to improve the design and the interpretation of biomonitoring programs.
Lison
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Industrial Toxicology and Occupational Medicine unit, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. lison@toxi.ucl.ac.be
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D001711:Biotransformation / Q000235:genetics*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
D015415:Biomarkers