Toxicology Flashcards
studies the cellular and biochemical effects of toxins
Mechanistic toxicology
provide insights to therapeutics and
improved laboratory tests that would assess the degree of exposure of poisoned
individuals
Mechanistic toxicology
studies animal exposure to poisons and use the findings to interpret what would be the level that would be considered lethal for humans
Descriptive toxicology
important in risk assessment, which would be
establishing the standards that describe the level of exposure of certain substances that will be a public health or safety risk.
Descriptive toxicology
medicolegal consequences of toxin
exposure
Forensic toxicology
special focus on the validation of analytic methods to ascertain the cause of death
Forensic toxicology
involves studying interrelationships between toxin exposure and disease states
Clinical toxicology
includes diagnostic testing and therapeutic
interventions
Clinical toxicology
gathers and evaluates the data derived from mechanistic and descriptive studies to determine standards that define the level of exposure that is not considered harmful to public health or safety
Regulatory toxicology
identification of toxic substances through
laboratory analysis of body fluids, wastes or tissues.
Analytical toxicology
involves the study of substances that contaminate food, water, soil, or the atmosphere.
Environmental toxicology
responsible for the delivery of safe and edible food supply to consumers.
Food toxicology
studies the health effects from exposure to toxic substances in the workplace.
Occupational toxicology
Actual amount of chemical that enters the body.
dose
dose was given over a short period of time usually within 24 hours
acute exposure
dose was given over a long period of time
chronic exposure
Contact with a chemical that can occur one time or occur on a short-term or long-term basis
Exposure
describes the relationship between exposure and health effect, often determined by measuring the effect relative to the dose.
Dose-
response
Exogenous agents causing adverse effects on biological systems and are often used to describe chemicals derived from animals,
plants, minerals, or gas
Poisons
effect of a chemical exposure that will produce injury to one kind of living organism but has no effect to another closely related living organism.
Selective
toxicity
dose or exposure level below which the harmful effects of the chemical are not seen in a population.
Threshold
dose
Threshold
dose also known as
no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) or the no effect level (NEL)
Threshold
dose is not applicable to
cancer-causing
substances
fatal effects of toxins to the body after exposure through the different routes with a chemical.
Toxic
is any chemical that can injure or kill humans, animals, or plants; used when talking about toxic substances that are produced by or are a by-product of human-made activities.
Toxicant
Endogenous substances that are produced naturally in living organisms.
Toxins
The degree to which a chemical substance damages an organ system, disrupts a biochemical process or disturbs an enzyme
system
Toxicity
The amount it takes to elicit a toxic effect compared with other chemicals
Potency
This is done for some toxic exposures, such as blood lead levels or metabolites of chemicals
Biologic
monitoring
4 routes of exposure
inhalation
injection
ingestion
skin (transdermal absorption)
fastest route for toxins to enter the systemic circulation
inhalation
damage by inhalation is determined by
concentration
size of molecule
solubility in blood
respiratory rate
respiratory tract condition
length of exposure
route most often seen in clinical settings
ingestion
absorption of toxin in GI tract depends on
concentration in target organ
chemical and physical form
distribution
metabolism
length of time in target tissue
can also introduce toxic susbtances to the blood
injections
examples of injection methods
intravenous
intramuscular
subcutaneous
another term for skin route of exposure
transdermal absorption