The word chemotherapy is capable of being divided into two parts,
the word chemo being the prefix and therapy being the suffix. The word chemo
refers to chemicals, therefore chemotherapy means to treat a specific disease
using chemicals, in this case, cancer. Chemicals are used to stop the growth of
cancer cells within the body. The chemicals used could be put into four
different categories: alkylating agents, anti-metabolites, vinca alkaloids,
cytotoxic antibiotics. Alkylating agents are used to attack the DNA within the
cells. During the synthesis stage in mitosis, anti-metabolites would block the
growth of cells. During the metaphase stage in mitosis, the plant(vinca)
alkaloids help stop the formation of mitotic spindles which prevents the cell
from dividing. During the interphase stage, cytotoxic antibiotics help stop the
duplication of the DNA. The chemicals in these four categories all help assist
in stopping cell division.
No comments:
Post a Comment