RESUMO
Inorganic complexes have long been utilized for many therapeutic purposes. They were used or tried, perhaps because of the general notion that inorganic compounds (e.g., metal complexes) are toxic and a controlled use of such a compound may suppress some biological process. In this review, we briefly outline the properties of several selected groups of inorganic complexes and how they can affect biological systems and contribute to human pathologies.
Assuntos
Compostos Inorgânicos/química , Compostos Inorgânicos/farmacologia , Anti-Hipertensivos/química , Anti-Hipertensivos/farmacologia , Antineoplásicos/química , Antineoplásicos/farmacologia , Antipsicóticos/química , Antipsicóticos/farmacologia , Antirreumáticos/química , Antirreumáticos/farmacologia , Humanos , Hipoglicemiantes/química , Hipoglicemiantes/farmacologia , Compostos Inorgânicos/uso terapêutico , Compostos de Platina/química , Compostos de Platina/farmacologiaRESUMO
Copper is contained in a number of enzymes and proteins. A remarkable feature is that except for the electron-carrying blue copper proteins (azurin and plastocyanin) and copper-containing cytochrome c oxidase found in some cyanobacteria and some aerobic bacteria, all copper enzymes and proteins are found only in eukaryotes. In the early and middle precambrian period when the stationary oxygen pressure in the atmosphere was quite low, copper existed as either metallic or cuprous sulfides which are very insoluble in aqueous media; thus copper might have been unavailable to organisms. The time when copper became Cu(II) upon rise of the atmospheric oxygen pressure and thus became available to organisms seems to be in the middle of Proteozoic era when first eukaryotic organisms seem to have appeared on earth. Thus copper may be considered to be an indicator element for the atmospheric evolution (switching from anoxygenic to oxygenic) and the evolution of higher organisms (eukaryotes).
Assuntos
Evolução Biológica , Cobre/fisiologia , Aerobiose , Animais , Cátions Bivalentes , Células Eucarióticas/fisiologia , Metaloproteínas/fisiologia , Células Procarióticas/fisiologiaRESUMO
Thermodynamic data and known paleogeological data were used to deduce when and what elements (compounds) were readily available during the whole history of the earth. On the basic assumption that available compounds would dictate the type of organisms to emerge, we attempted to derive a kind of evolutionary tree. This was then compared with the existing evolutionary trees derived from the sequences of proteins and polynucleotides.
