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Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. [1] Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell (cytotoxicity) or an organ such as the liver (hepatotoxicity).
Poisoning is the harmful effect which occurs when toxic substances are introduced into the body. [1] The term "poisoning" is a derivative of poison, a term describing any chemical substance that may harm or kill a living organism upon ingestion. [2] Poisoning can be brought on by swallowing, inhaling, injecting or absorbing toxins through the skin.
Human antimicrobial peptides which are toxic to viruses, fungi, bacteria, and cancerous cells are considered a part of the immune system. [12] In nuclear physics, a poison is a substance that obstructs or inhibits a nuclear reaction. Environmentally hazardous substances are not necessarily poisons
A toxicologist working in a lab (United States, 2008)Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms [1] and the practice of diagnosing and treating exposures to toxins and toxicants.
Acute toxicity is distinguished from chronic toxicity, which describes the adverse health effects from repeated exposures, often at lower levels, to a substance over a longer time period (months or years). It is widely considered unethical to use humans as test subjects for acute (or chronic) toxicity research.
A toxic injury is a type of injury resulting from exposure to a toxin. Toxic injuries can manifest as teratogenic effects, respiratory effects, gastrointestinal effects, cardiovascular effects, hepatic effects, renal effects, neurological effects, or a combination thereof.
The term "environmental toxin" can sometimes explicitly include synthetic contaminants [26] such as industrial pollutants and other artificially made toxic substances. As this contradicts most formal definitions of the term "toxin", it is important to confirm what the researcher means when encountering the term outside of microbiological contexts.
A mode of toxic action is a common set of physiological and behavioral signs that characterize a type of adverse biological response. [1] A mode of action should not be confused with mechanism of action, which refer to the biochemical processes underlying a given mode of action. [2]