DIFFERENTIAL MONOCYTIC GENE EXPRESSION IN SUBJECTS WITH PREMATURE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

This chapter discusses the action of drugs on phospolipid metabolism. The rationale of drug action has been the subject of voluminous studies over the years and numerous investigations have been made of their effect on membrane systems, in particular their electrical activity. The properties of a membrane will be governed to some extent by its composition and as this is partly phospholipid in nature, the effect of drugs on phospholipid metabolism and function is of some importance. The role of phospholipids in the mitochondrial membrane is probably quite different from their role in the membranes of the myelin sheath, and there is one interesting metabolic difference. The phospholipids of myelin are largely stable throughout the life span of the animal, whereas the mitochondria of liver have a life of only a few days. In the membranous structure of microsomes are located a large number of the enzymes responsible for phospholipid synthesis, although the significance of this is again obscure.