Chemistry and biochemistry:
1) Aqueous solutions: water, solvation and electrolytic dissociation, hydrogen bonding, concentration of solutions
2) Acid base balance: definitions (strength of acids and bases pH, pK), buffer solutions, Handerson-Hasselbalch equation, physiological buffers
3) Organic compounds, classification and functional groups: alcohol, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, amines. Nomenclature and main characteristics. Main types of isomerism. Aromatic compounds.
4) Amino acids and general structure of proteins. Collagen. Myoglobin and hemoglobin. Cooperativity and allosterism.
5) Kinetics of reactions: enzymes and kinetics of enzymatic reactions
6) Bioenergetics: principles of thermodynamics. Free energy and spontaneous reactions. High energy bonds, redox potentials, redox pairs of particular biological importance.
7) Oxidative phosphorylation, tricarboxylic acid cycle, aerobic and anaerobic metabolism
8) Carbohydrates. Monosaccharides and polysaccharides. Glycogen metabolism.
9) Glycolysis, Gluconeogenesis and their regulation, pentose pathway.
10) Lipids. Fatty acids, triglycerides and phospholipids; beta oxidation.
11) Biosynthesis of fatty acids and triglycerides; Cholesterol and steroid hormones. Lipoprotein metabolism.
12) The general metabolism of amino acids and nitrogen compounds. Transamination, oxidative deamination, ammonium ion and urea cycle.
13) Nucleic acids. Nitrogen bases and nucleotides and their metabolism.
14) Metabolic interactions: blood glucose control, post-prandial phase and fasting, biochemical aspects of diabetes. Vitamins, iron metabolism, transfer of monocarbon units.