This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Organophosphorus insecticides (OP) are one of the most widely used and important insecticide classes. After entering the mammalian blood stream, the OP will pass into the liver and from the portal vein to the central vein via sinusoids. While passing though the sinusoids some amount of the OP will enter the cell lining of the sinusoid and undergo desulfuration. It is this passage and the attendant desulfuration process that we intend to model. Furthermore, using data from our experimental collaborators, Shane Burgess and Janice Chambers, both of the College of Veterinary Medicine of Mississippi State University, we hope to use this model to perform simulations of this process. While we shall take a simplified approach to our modeling, ignoring several possibly important physical and chemical processes, we expect our work to give insights into the process of bioactivation within the liver. Furthermore, we shall carry out our work in such a manner as to allow greater generalization as we build toward an accurate and complete model of the mammalian liver and how it reacts to environmental toxins. Such a model will not only aid in the understanding of liver function vis- -vis the impact of OP contamination, but would be of great use in developing treatments for dangerous levels of exposure.
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