O. P. Matyshevska, V. M. Danilova, S. V. Komisarenko

Palladin Institute Biochemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv;
e-mail: matysh@yahoo.com

Received: 16 October  2019; Accepted: 18 October 2019

The aim of this work was to analyze the experimental achievements in the field of biochemical science, such as the structure and metabolism of lipids. Since the early 1960s, there has been a real breakthrough in the study of intermediate lipid metabolism and its regulation, which has been marked not only by the award of a number of Nobel Prizes, but also by the formation of clinical lipidology as a section of metabology. The discoveries made by Feodor Lynen and Konrad Bloch helped clarify the key role of cholesterol in the development of atherosclerosis and heart attacks. The discoveries of Sune Bergström and Bengt Samuelsson have given impetus to a number of studies on the biological functions of prostaglandins. Humanity should be grateful to English pharmacologist John Robert Vane for discovering prostacyclin and for the important role he played in understanding the ability of aspirin to block the production of prostaglandins  from arachidonic acid. Joseph Goldstein and Michael Brown have made a fundamental contribution to the discovery of the mechanism of regulation of cholesterol metabolism in the body. They studied hypercholesterolemia, in particular a form of hereditary disease characteri­zed by high levels of cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in the blood, in which atherosclerotic deposits are formed in the cells of the blood vessels. Thanks to fundamental research of all the above-mentioned nobelians, achievements in such fields as genetics of family hyperchesterolemia, regulation of the functional state of arteries and microvessels, prevention of atherosclerosis, and other vascular complications are generally recognized today.

Keywords: B. Samuelsson, F. Lynen, J. Vane, K. Bloch, lipid metabolism, M. Brown J. Goldstein, Nobel laureates, S. Bergström