BIOCHEMISTRY (BCN 210)

Introduction

Gunda Gadzika RN, BSN (SN)

 General Objective
 By the end of this presentation student nurses must have basic knowledge of what biochemistry
is, its importance to nursing as well as structural organizations of the body inclusive of relative
chemistry of life.
 Introduction
 Biochemistry refers to the study of the structure, composition and chemical reactions of
substances in living systems.
 The term Bio refers to life and the term chemistry refers to the study of molecular structure and
composition. And therefore, we are going to define Biochemistry as the study of the molecular
composition, structures of chemical reactions in relation to the living organisms.
 The understanding of the Biochemistry of the human body gives a better insight during the
Diagnosis, Prescription and Treatment.
 Importance Of Biochemistry to Nursing
1. It helps to understand the biochemical processes of the human body.
2. It helps to distinguish the differences between the normal and abnormal processes of the body.
3. It helps to understand the effects of the chemicals or drugs on the human body.
4. It helps to come up with Diagnosis and treatment of patients.
5. It helps to understand inborn errors.
6. It is also used as a tool for research.
 Structural Levels of the Body
 The structural level of organization of the body at larges moves from an atom to the system in the
following levels:
1. Atom: Smallest particle of an element which exist independently.
2. Molecule: This refers to a group of atoms bonded together which can take part in a chemical
reactions. Very large group of atoms makes up a macro molecule.
3. Cell: A basic functional and structural unit of the human body, it is primarily made up of
molecules.
4. Tissue: A group of cells with similar functions working together to perform a specific function.
5. Organ: Refers to a group of tissues with similar function working together to perform a specific
function.
6. System: This is a group of organs, which function together.
 The Chemistry of Life
 The chemistry of life looks at certain elements that make up the human being.
 All matter is composed of tiny particles called atoms. There are 109 types of atoms.
 A substance made up of one kind of atom is called an element.
 An atom as the smallest part of an element that still contains the properties of that element.
 Chemistry is essential for meeting our basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, health, energy, and
clean air, water, and soil. Chemical technologies enrich our quality of life in numerous ways by
providing new solutions to problems in health, materials, and energy usage.
 The many disciplines within Chemistry of Life include (bio)organic and medicinal chemistry,
analytical and macromolecular chemistry that relate to biological processes, bio- and cellular
chemistry, structural and chemical biology, molecular biology, and biophysics
 Atoms
 An atom has been defined as the smallest particle of an element that is able to exist independently,
with that in mind an element is the simplest form of a substance which cannot be broken down any
further without making change to its form.
 The atom is the basic unit of matter, any matter is filled in atoms.
 An atom is made up of 3 main particles
1. A proton: Positively charged particle
2. A Neutron: Neutral
3. An Electron: Negatively charged particle, electrons simply revolve around the nucleus of the atom
forming an electronic cloud.
 An atom with the same element but has different number of neutrons is called an isotope, some are
radioactive and can be used in cancer treatment and also for carbon dating based research.
 Elements
 An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into any other substance. Every element is
made up of its own type of atom. This is why the chemical elements are all very different from each
other.
 The 4 main elements in the human body include CHON,
1. Carbon
2. Hydrogen
3. Oxygen
4. Nitrogen
 They account for more than 99 per cent of the atoms inside you. They are found throughout your
body, mostly as water but also as components of biomolecules such as proteins, fats, DNA and
carbohydrates.
 Compounds
 A compound is defined as a combination of two or more elements, examples include H2O
which is a combination of hydrogen and oxygens. CO2 and many others.
 The two main types of compound include: Organic and Inorganic compounds
 Organic Compounds contain C,H,O In some ratio an dare usually referred to as chemicals of
life. Some examples include Carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids etc.
 Inorganic compounds are those that support life, and these are those we breath in or use such as
water and Carbon dioxide etc.
 Chemical Bonds
 Chemical bonds hold the atoms in a molecule together.
 There are two main types of bonds
1. Ionic Bonds
2. Covalent Bonds
 Ionic bonds occur when or more electrons are transferred from one atom to another, when an
atom loses an electron it is a positive charge but when an atom gains an electron it is a negative
charge. The newly charged atoms are now called ions with an example being sodium chloride.
 Covalent atoms occur when electrons are shared by atoms and these new structures that result
from covalent bonding are called molecules. The more chemical bonds a molecule has the more
energy it has.
 Mixtures and Solutions
 A mixture is a material which is composed of two or more compounds or elements which are
physically mixed. Mixtures don’t always dissolve into each other. Example is sugar and salt or
salt and sand. These do not actually dissolve into each other but simply mix.
 A solution on the other hand is a substance which is chemically mixed, these dissolve into each
other as they are suppose to.
 Solutes are divided into 3 parts.
1. Solutes: The component which dissolves in a solute.
2. Solvent: The medium in which a solute dissolves in.
3. Suspensions: This refers to the particles that remain when a solution does not mix completely.
 Acids and Bases
 An acid is defined as a molecule or other species which can donate a proton or accept an
electron pair in reactions.
 Acids have excess amounts of hydrogen ions, hence there formulae usually begin with the letter
H.
 a chemical species that donates electrons, accepts protons, or releases hydroxide (OH-) ions in
aqueous solution.
 Bases contain excess hydroxide ions hence there formula usually ends with –OH.
 The reaction between an Acid and a Base gives its products as salt and water. An example is
Hydrochloric acid plus Sodium Hydroxide gives a product of Sodium Chloride and Water. This
is called the Neutralization reaction
 Potential Of Hydrogen (pH)
 Potential of Hydrogen (pH) refers to the measure of the degree of how acidic or alkaline a
substance is.
 A more chemical definition would be that pH is effectively a measure of the concentration of
hydrogen ions (that is, protons) in a substance.
 This is measures using the pH Scale, this scale Ranges from 1-14.
 Readings from 0-6 are strong acids
 Readings at 7 are Neutral
 Readings from 8-14 are Strong Bases
 Chemical Formula
 A formula is an expression of the composition of a compound in form of Chemical Symbols
and Numbers.
 A chemical formula (plural: formulae) is a way of presenting information about the chemical
proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using
chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as parentheses,
dashes, brackets, commas and plus (+) and minus (−)
 There are three forms of formulae that exist: Empirical, Structural and Molecular formulae.
 Empirical formulas show the simplest whole-number ratio of atoms in a compound
 Molecular formulas show the number of each type of atom in a molecule.
 Structural formulas show how the atoms in a molecule are bonded to each other
Review of The Human Cell