Molecular biology and medicine. A primer for the clinician.

Abstract

(Bello) Pediatric Critical Care Fellow, Departments of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology.(Schwinn) Associate professor, Departments of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Surgery.Received from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. Submitted for publication April I, 1994. Accepted for publication August 13, 1996. Supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants #HLO7063 (E.A.B.), #AG00745, and #AG02385 (D.A.S.).Address reprint requests to Dr. Schwinn: Department of Anesthesiology, Box 3094, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710. Address electronic mail to: schwi001@mc.duke.edu.Key words: Genetics: genetic engineering; gene therapy. Molecular biology.Molecular biology can be defined broadly as the application of molecular approaches (at the level of DNA and RNA) to understand protein function and regulation in normal and abnormal cellular responses. The application of principles of molecular biology to treat disease or modify organisms for commercial purposes is generally referred to as genetic engineering. Advances in the fields of molecular biology and genetic engineering are beginning to directly impact clinicians in disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Therefore, an understanding of molecular biology is rapidly becoming necessary to fully understand normal physiology and pathophysiology. DNA can now be isolated, purified, amplified, and sequenced routinely and easily. With these advances, clinicians may soon be able to identify patients preoperatively with specific genetic diseases such as malignant hyperthermia and Alzheimer's disease, or quickly identify a specific virus or bacteria in the intensive care unit. Of particular importance to the anesthesiologist, many areas of anesthesiology research (e.g., identification of binding sites of local anesthetics in sodium channels, techniques for single cell pharmacologic testing of clinically relevant ligand-gated channels, and understanding the molecular basis of bleeding disorders) all require knowledge of molecular biology. Therefore, this article is intended as a