All 58 chapters of the thirty-first edition place major emphasis on the medical relevance of biochemistry. Topics are organized under eleven major headings. Both to assist study and to facilitate retention of the contained information, Questions follow each Section. An Answer Bank follows the Appendix.

Section I includes a brief history of biochemistry, and emphasizes the interrelationships between biochemistry and medicine. Water, the importance of homeostasis of intracellular pH are reviewed, and the various orders of protein structure are addressed.

Section II begins with a chapter on hemoglobin. Four chapters next address the kinetics, mechanism of action, and metabolic regulation of enzymes, and the role of metal ions in multiple aspects of intermediary metabolism.

Section III addresses bioenergetics and the role of high energy phosphates in energy capture and transfer, the oxidation–reduction reactions involved in biologic oxidation, and metabolic details of energy capture via the respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation. Section IV considers the metabolism of carbohydrates via glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, the pentose phosphate pathway, glycogen

metabolism, gluconeogenesis, and the control of blood glucose. Section V outlines the nature of simple and complex lipids, lipid transport and storage, the biosynthesis and degradation of fatty acids and more complex lipids, and the reactions and metabolic regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis and transport in human subjects.

Section VI discusses protein catabolism, urea biosynthesis, and the catabolism of amino acids and stresses the medically significant metabolic disorders associated with their incomplete catabolism. The final chapter considers the biochemistry of the porphyrins and bile pigments.

Section VII first outlines the structure and function of nucleotides and nucleic acids, then details DNA replication and repair, RNA synthesis and modification, protein synthesis, the principles of recombinant DNA technology, and the regulation of gene expression.

Section VIII considers aspects of extracellular and intracellular communication. Specific topics include membrane structure and function, the molecular bases of the actions of hormones, and signal transduction.

Sections IX, X, & XI address fourteen topics of significant medical importance.

Section IX discusses nutrition, digestion, and absorption, micronutrients including vitamins free radicals and antioxidants, glycoproteins, the metabolism of xenobiotics, and clinical biochemistry.

Section X addresses intracellular traffic and the sorting of proteins, the extracellular matrix, muscle and the cytoskeleton, plasma proteins and immunoglobulins, and the biochemistry of red cells and of white cells. Section XI includes hemostasis and thrombosis, an overview of cancer, the biochemistry of aging, and a selection of case histories.