Lysosome pharmacology and toxicology.

Abstract

Soon after the discovery of lysosomes, their role in pharmacology and toxicology was proposed. The nature of the organelles and the fact that all reactions catalyzed by the lysosomal enzymes were hydrolytic permitted one to hypothesize that lysosomes could only play a part in the biotransformation of drugs and toxins. On the other hand, it was not difficult to imagine the necessity of such structures in protecting cells from exogenous material that came into contact with the plasma membrane and was subsequently internalized. In fact, the apparent simplicity of the lysosomes, when compared to other subcellular structures like the mitochondria, makes it easy to conceptualize their functions and malfunctions (de Duve and Wattiaux, 1966). As innumerable articles are published every year on drug-lysosome interaction,* it is evident that this review cannot cover the whole area, but we hope to give a comprehensive account of the fundamental facts pertaining to the subject and illustrate them with examples.KeywordsLysosomal EnzymeLysosomal MembraneCationic LipidNile BlueAmino Acid EsterThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.