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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.
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.
Toxication, toxification or toxicity exaltation is the conversion of a chemical compound into a more toxic form in living organisms or in substrates such as soil or water. The conversion can be caused by enzymatic metabolism in the organisms, as well as by abiotic chemical reactions .
A box model explaining the processes of toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics. While toxicokinetics describes the changes in the concentrations of a toxicant over time due to the uptake, biotransformation, distribution and elimination of toxicants, toxicodynamics involves the interactions of a toxicant with a biological target and the functional or structural alterations in a cell that can ...
On-target toxicity is also referred to as mechanism-based toxicity. This type of adverse effect that results from pharmaceutical drug exposure is commonly due to interactions of the drug with its intended target. In this case, both the therapeutic and toxic targets are the same.
Examples of toxic agents are toxic metals, toxic chemicals, microbe neurotoxins, radiation particles and even specific neurotransmitters when the system is out of balance. Also some types of drugs, e.g alcohol , [ 1 ] and some venom , e.g. from the puff adder ( Bitis arietans ) or brown recluse spider ( Loxosceles reclusa ) are toxic to cells.
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]