Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B
Online ISSN : 1349-2896
Print ISSN : 0386-2208
ISSN-L : 0386-2208
Review
Recollection of the early years of the research on cytochrome P450
Tsuneo OMURA
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Keywords: cytochrome P450
JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2011 Volume 87 Issue 10 Pages 617-640

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Abstract

Since the publication of the first paper on “cytochrome P450” in 1962, the biochemical research on this novel hemoprotein expanded rapidly in the 1960s and the 1970s as its principal roles in various important metabolic processes including steroid hormone biosynthesis in the steroidogenic organs and drug metabolism in the liver were elucidated. Establishment of the purification procedures of microsomal and mitochondrial P450s in the middle of the 1970s together with the introduction of molecular biological techniques accelerated the remarkable expansion of the research on P450 in the following years. This review paper summarizes the important developments in the research on P450 in the early years, for about two decades from the beginning, together with my personal recollections.

(Communicated by Masanori OTSUKA, M.J.A.)

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© 2011 The Japan Academy
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