Using a “Body-on-a-Chip” including toxicokinetics to predict human response to chemical and drug exposures

Abstract

The lack of information on several aspects of sugar metabolism in plants, unicellular algae, and cyanobacteria and the relevance in agronomical and biotechnological projects have renewed interest in carbohydrate enzyme studies. It is worth noting that many enzymes involved are exclusive of those organisms, and only a small part of their characteristics (mainly biochemical, biological, thermodynamical, kinetic, and structural properties) has been investigated. This chapter describes basic principles and particularities for assaying enzyme activities, useful tools in the study of carbohydrate metabolism in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms.