MEDICAL CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY EXAM QUESTIONS

I. PHYSICAL, BIOANORGANIC AND BIOORGANIC CHEMISTRY

1. 2.

Water- physical and chemical properties and importance in human organism Solubility of compounds, analytical and colloidal dispersions, diffusion, osmosis, osmotic and oncotic pressure, dialysis, biochemical examples

3.

Energetics of chemical reactions, , Gibbs energy and entropy, metabolic applications

4.

Kinetics and energetics of reversible and consecutive reactions, chemical equilibrium,the Guldberg-Waage law , application to enzymology

5.

Basic

techniques

for

the

separation

of

macromolecules

(electrophoresis,

chromatography) and their application in clinical practice 6. 7. Spectrophotometry, application in clinical practice Electrolytic dissociation, dissociation constant, strong and weak electrolytes, biochemical examples 8. Brnsteds theory of acids and bases, equilibrium in protolytic reaction, biochemical examples. Ionic product of water, pH and its importance for medicine 9. Ampholytes - properties, biochemical examples

10. Buffer solution, pH calculation, importance in human organism 11. Oxidation and reduction, redox potential, dependency on the concentration of the reactants and pH, biochemical examples 12. Precipitation reactions, solubility product, formation of complex compounds, examples and importance for biochemistry and medicine 13. Chemical properties of basic biogenic elements 14. Oxygen and reactive forms of oxygen. Lipid peroxidation 15. Biologically and toxicologically important elements of the periodic table with the exclusion of basic biogenic elements, the mechanism of action of selected toxic compounds (CO, KCN, HCN, H2S, heavy metals 16. Trace elements , biological and metabolic importance 17. Structure of organic compounds, isomerism, examples in metabolic pathways

18. Halogen and nitroderivatives of carbohydrates, examples of medically and toxicologically important compounds 19. Sulphur-containing derivatives of carbohydrates, examples of medically important compounds 20. Amines - importance in biochemistry 21. Alcohols, phenols, aldehydes, ketones, biochemical examples 22. Carboxylic acids, functional and substituted derivatives of carboxylic acids, biochemical examples 23. Importance of nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur-containing heterocycles 24. Structural characteristic of amino acids, clasification, reactions, importance, peptides, peptide bond, examples of biologically important peptides 25. Proteins - structure, properties and functions 26. Saccharides - classification, structure, stereochemistry, biological importance 27. Reactions of monosaccharides, disaccharides, O- and N- glykosidic bound, examples 28. Homopolysaccharides and heteropolysaccharides - structure and importance in organism 29. Proteoglycanes, glycoproteins - structure, properties, examples 30. Lipids - definition, classification, structure, properties, function in organism 31. Phospho- anf sphingolipids - structure, properties and importance in organism 32. Sterols, bile acids and steroid hormones - structure, function and importance in organism

II. METABOLISM
1. Structure of enzymes (cofactors, coenzymes, oligomeric structure), multiple forms of enzymes and isoenzymes, medical application of enzymology 2. Enzymatic activity, influence of physical and chemical conditions, regulation (expression, allosteric effects, covalent modification). Detection of enzymatic activity - methods of measuring (temperature, kinetic versus endpoint measurement) 3. 4. Respiratory chain, oxidative phosphorylation Energy-rich compounds, substrate level phosphorylation, drive of endergonic reactions 5. Citric acid cycle, amphibolic character of the citric acid cycle, regulation

6.

Common mechanisms of amino acids - metabolism, deamination, transamination, nitrogen balance

7.

Formation and detoxification of ammonia, urea cycle and its regulation, hyperammonaemia

8.

Metabolism of the carbon skeleton of amino acids converted into pyruvate, oxalacetate, 2-oxoglutarate, succinyl CoA and branched chain amino acids, integration of amino acids into metabolic pathways

9.

Metabolism of aromatic amino acids, defects of metabolism

10. Metabolism of sulphur-containing amino acids 11. Biosynthesis, biodegradation and function of the most important biogenic amines 12. Conversion of amino acids into special products (formation, conversion and importance of creatine and S-adenosylmethionine, creatinin clearence) 13. Glycolysis, regulation 14. Gluconeogenesis, regulation 15. Degradation and synthesis of glycogen, regulation, inherited disorders 16. Pentose phosphate pathway, regulation 17. Metabolism of galactose and fructose, inherited disorders 18. Metabolism of glucuronic acid and its metabolic importance 19. Biosynthesis of fatty acids 20. Formation of ketone bodies from acetyl-CoA, metabolic causes, importance 21. Carnitine system, oxidation of fatty acids, energy balance 22. Biosynthesis and biodegradation of triacylglycerols 23. Structure, metabolism and function of phospholipids and sphingolipids 24. Synthesis and degradation of eicosanoids, cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways 25. Biosynthesis of cholesterol and its regulation, role of HMG-CoA reductase, transport of the endogenic and exogenic cholesterol 26. Conversion and excretion of cholesterol, bile acids 27. Biosynthesis and biodegradation of steroid hormones 28. Transport of lipids, role of lipoproteins, structure of lipoprotein particles (formation and conversion, role of chylomicrons, VLDL, LDL and HDL lipoproteins). Lipoprotein electrophoresis 29. Biosynthesis and degradation of tetrapyrroles, disorders

30. Important blood plasma proteins (albumin, immunoglobulins, complement system, acute-phase proteins, transport proteins) 31. Pyrimidine nucleotides - metabolism, regulation, inhibitors, metabolic disorders 32. Purine nucleotides - metabolism, regulation, inhibitors, metabolic disorders

III. FUNDAMENTALS OF ORGAN AND FUNCTIONAL BIOCHEMISTRY

1. 2. Regulation and coordination of metabolism of carbohydrates and other nutrients Glycaemia and its regulation, diagnostics,(glucose tolerance test. glycosylated haemoglobin) 3. 4. Metabolism of fat tissue Regulation of haem biosynthesis; differences between the hepatocyte and erythroid cell; iron metabolism 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Hormonal regulation of water and mineral metabolism Regulation of bone metabolism Hormonal regulation of energy metabolism Biochemical processes in digestion of nutrients Biochemical functions of hepatocytes and liver; assessment of liver function and damage 10. Biotransformation of endogenous and exogenous compounds; types of the biotransformation processes. Toxic and carcinogenic compounds in the environment 11. Buffer systems of the organism, their significance in maintaining the acido-base balance 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Erythrocyte metabolism Haemocoagulation, cascade of coagulation factors, function of platelets Urine, physiological and pathological constituents Collagen - structure, properties, metabolism Biochemistry of connective tissue (cartilage and bone) Biochemistry of the skin. Biochemical basis of touch. Contractile apparatus, the control of smooth and skeletal muscle contraction. myocardial markers and their importance 19. 20. Biochemistry of vision - Wald cycle, transducin cycle Biochemistry of hearing, taste and olfaction

21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. .

Biochemical events in the synapsis; neurotransmitters Steroid hormones and their functions in regulatory processes Peptide hormones and their functions in regulatory processes Local mediators, cytokines. Thyroid hormones and their functions in regulatory processes. Molecular basis of the humoral immune response. Molecular basis of the cellular immune response Lipid-soluble vitamins Water-soluble vitamins Structure, constituents and properties of cell membranes Membrane transport Compartmentation of biochemical processes at the cellular level

IV. BASIC CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Membrane receptors and their ligands, G-proteins Types of second messengers and their role in signal transduction Signal transduction cascades of cytokines and growth factors Activation of phospholipases and lipid derivates as signaling molecules NO signalling. Overview of signalling pathways Intracellular receptors and their ligands, HSP, interactions of intracellular receptors with DNA 7. 8. 9. Relationships between signal transduction pathways Structure and function of DNA Structure and function of RNA

10. Organization of prokaryotic, eukaryotic and mitochondrial genome 11. Replication of eukaryotic DNA, DNA replication apparatus and its regulation 12. DNA repair 13. Transcription of eukaryotic DNA 14. mRNA - structure, synthesis, posttranscriptional modifications 15. Metabolism of RNA and RNA interference 16. Regulation of gene expression at the level of transcription 17. Genetic code and its properties 18. Eukaryotic, prokaryotic and mitochondrial translation and their regulation

19. Posttranslational modification of proteins, protein transport and targeting, modification and sorting of proteins in Golgi apparatus, biosynthesis of glycoprotein 20. Restriction enzymes and their usage, DNA modification and construction of recombinant DNA molecules, DNA cloning 21. DNA diagnostics, techniques (RFLP, hybridization) 22. Methods of cell fractionation, electrophoretic analysis of nucleic acids and proteins , 23. Polymerase chain reaction, PCR applications in clinical diagnostics, RT-PCR and application of this technique, DNA sequencing 24. Types of human gene mutations, hereditary and somatic mutations, polymorphisms, minisatellite and microsatellite markers and their analysis 25. Retroviruses and pararetroviruses, structure and replication 26. DNA and RNA viruses, replication 27. The role of protooncogenes and tumour suppressor genes 28. Cell cycle, the role of cyclin and cdk complexes 29. Regulation of cell cycle, the role of tumour suppressor genes 30. Ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of proteins 31. Biochemistry of apoptosis 32. Epigenetics, DNA methylation, histone modifications, epigenetic effects in humans