Drug Metabolism: Review of Principles and the Fate of One-Ring Psychotomimetics

Abstract

Interest in the metabolic fate of compounds foreign to the body (xenobiotics) has intensified dramatically during the past decade. Research efforts are derived today from a variety of disciplines and any attempt to review the entire field is likely to require a “team of experts.” Fortunately, a number of books that cover various aspects of drug metabolism have appeared recently. The most chemically oriented is the Testa and Jenner monograph (1976), which provides an excellent description of biotransformation processes with much fine molecular detail. The Chemical Society, London, publishes a good review series entitled “Foreign Compound Metabolism in Mammals” (Hathway, 1975). A bibliographic survey, “The Fate of Drugs in the Organism” (Hirtz, 1976), has recorded 9000 references (through about 1972) dealing with various aspects of drug metabolism. Two textbook-type publications (Goldstein et al., 1974; La Du et al., 1971) are mainly concerned with the fate and mechanism of action of small molecules. The more traditional textbooks in medicinal chemistry contain good chapters on drug metabolism (McMahon, 1970; Daniels and Jorgensen, 1977). Biologically oriented material will be found in the series “Concepts in Biochemical Pharmacology,” particularly Part 2 (Brodie and Gillette, 1971) and Part 3 (Gillette and Mitchell, 1975). The publications of the proceedings of a number of symposia provide first-rate discussions of specific topics. Two symposium publications focus on in vitro aspects of microsomal oxidations (Estabrook et al., 1973a; Gillette et al., 1969).