Book excerpt: Enzymatic Basis of Detoxication, Volume II, reviews the state of knowledge on foreign compound metabolism at the level of what specific enzymes can do. The book attempts to provide a holistic view of the information gleaned from work with specific, purified enzymes encompassing as many mammalian sources as have been studied. The book is organized into two parts. Part I on conjugation reactions and related systems includes studies on the properties of glucuronide formation; the physiological function, assay, and purificatgion of function of bilirubin-glucuronoside glucuronosyltransferase; the roles of N- and O-methylation reactions and glutathione transferases in detoxication; and amino acid conjugation. Part II presents studies on hydrolytic systems, covering the role of epoxide hydrolase, carboxylesterases, and amidases in detoxication and the regulatory effects of these enzymes. This book provides pharmacologists and toxicologists with the biochemical view of detoxication, and biochemists with the corresponding pharmacological and toxicological aspects.