Introduction to Toxicology
Toxicology
What is toxicology? The study of the effects of poisons.
Poisonous substances are produced by plants, animals, or bacteria.
Phytotoxins
Zootoxins
Bacteriotoxins
Toxicant - the specific poisonous chemical.
Xenobiotic - man-made substance and/or produced by but not normally
found in the body.
Introduction
Toxicology is arguably the oldest scientific discipline, as the
earliest humans had to recognize which plants were safe
to eat.
Most exposure of humans to chemicals is via naturally
occurring compounds consumed from food plants.
Humans are exposed to chemicals both inadvertently and
deliberately.
You Know ?
92% of all poisonings happen at home.
The household products implicated in most
poisonings are: cleaning solutions, fuels,
medicines, and other materials such as
glue and cosmetics.
Certain animals secrete a xenobiotic poison
called venom, usually injected with a bite
or a sting, and others animals harbor
infectious bacteria.
Some household plants are poisonous to
humans and animals.
History
2700 B.C. - Chinese journals: plant and
fish poisons
1900-1200 B.C. - Egyptian documents
that had directions for collection, preparation,
and administration of more than 800 medicinal and poisonous
recipes.
800 B.C. - India - Hindu medicine includes
notes on poisons and antidotes.
50-100 A.D. - Greek physicians classified over
600 plant, animal, and mineral poisons.
History
Swiss physician Paracelsus (1493-
1541) credited with being
“the father of modern toxicology.”
“All substances are poisons: there is
none which is not a poison. The
right dose differentiates a poison
from a remedy.”
The Dose Makes the Poison
An apparently nontoxic chemical
can be toxic at high doses. (Too
much of a good thing can be
bad).
Highly toxic chemicals can be life
saving when given in appropriate
doses. (Poisons are not harmful
at a sufficiently low dose).
Lethal Doses
Approximate Lethal Doses of Common Chemicals
(Calculated for a 160 lb. human from data on rats)
Chemical Lethal Dose
Sugar (sucrose) 3 quarts
Alcohol (ethyl alcohol) 3 quarts
Salt (sodium chloride) 1 quart
Herbicide (2, 4-D) one half cup
Arsenic (arsenic acid) 1-2 teaspoons
Nicotine one half teaspoon
Food poison (botulism) microscopic
Source: Marczewski, A.E., and Kamrin, M. Toxicology for the citizen, Retrieved August 17, 2000
from the World Wide Web: www.iet.msu.edu/toxconcepts/toxconcepts.htm.
History
Italian physician
Ramazzini (1713) published
“De Morbis Artificum”
(Diseases of Workers)
describing "asthma" in bakers, miners, farmers, gilders,
tinsmiths, glass-workers, tanners, millers, grain-sifters,
stonecutters, ragmen, runners, riders, porters, and
professors. Ramazzini outlined health hazards of the dusts,
fumes, or gases that such workers inhaled. The bakers and
horse riders described by Ramazzini would today probably
be diagnosed as suffering from allergen-induced asthma.
The lung diseases suffered by most of the other workers
would now be classified as "pneumoconiosis," a group of
dust-related chronic diseases.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
• The modern definition of Occupational Health (ILO and
WHO) is:
“The promotion and maintenance of the
highest degree of physical, mental and social
well-being of workers in all occupations
– total health of all at work”
History
Spanish physician Orfila (1815) established
toxicology as
a distinct scientific discipline.
History
20th Century
Paul Ehrlich –developed staining procedures to observe
cell and tissues and pioneered the understanding of
how toxicants influence living organisms.
History
20th Century
Rachel Carson - alarmed public
about dangers of pesticides
in the environment.
Occupational and
Environmental Toxicology
Environmental toxicants (air
and water pollutants) are
substances harmful to the
environment and to humans.
Environmental toxicants are both natural and
man made.
Public perception that man-made ones are more serious than
natural ones - Reality: both
are serious.
5,000,000 yearly deaths worldwide due
to bacterial toxicants (Salmonella, E. coli)
Occupational and
Environmental Toxicology
Many examples of diseases associated with specific
occupations were recorded in antiquity, but they were
not considered serious because the health of the
workers was not a societal concern.
- Paracelsus - Miner’s Disease (1533)
- Hill & Pott (1761 &1775)
- Radium dial painters, “aniline dye” workers (1900)
- Shoe salesmen (1950s)
- Industrial chemical workers (1940-present)
Occupational and
Environmental Toxicology
- Paracelsus - Miner’s Disease (1533) came from
inhaling metal vapors, foundation for the
field of chemotherapy.
- Hill (1761) linked tobacco (snuff)
to cancer.
- Pott (1775) linked scrotal cancer
and soot (benzo(a)pyrene) in
chimney sweeps.
Occupational and
Environmental Toxicology
- Radium dial painters,
“aniline dye” workers (1900)
painters licked their brushes
to pull it to a point.
- Shoe salesmen (1950s)
shoe-fitting fluoroscopes:
radiation of feet in shoes
of children and repeated
exposure for salesmen.
Occupational and
Environmental Toxicology
- Industrial chemical workers
(1940-present)
Workers typically are exposed to
a greater number of carcinogens
for longer periods of time.
Occupations with high risk of cancer :
Health care workers, pharmaceutical and
laboratory workers, refinery workers, rubber
workers, furniture makers, and pesticide workers.
Toxicology Terms
Toxicity - The adverse effects
that a chemical
may produce.
Dose - The amount of a
chemical that gains
access to the body.
Toxicology Terms
Exposure – Contact providing
opportunity of
obtaining a
poisonous dose.
Hazard – The likelihood that the
toxicity will be
expressed.
Routes of Environmental
Exposure
Ingestion (water and food)
Absorption (through skin)
Injection (bite, puncture, or cut)
Inhalation (air)
Chemicals, Chemicals
Everywhere
Everything in the environment is made of chemicals. Both
naturally occurring and synthetic substances are chemical in
nature.
People are exposed to chemicals by
eating or swallowing them,breathing
them, or absorbing them through the
skin or mucosa.
People can protect themselves
by blocking these routes of
exposure.
Duration & Frequency of
Exposure
Duration and frequency are also important
components of exposure and contribute to dose.
Acute exposure - less than 24 hours; usually entails a
single exposure
Repeated exposures are classified as:
– Subacute - repeated for up to 30 days
– Subchronic - repeated for 30-90 days
– Chronic -repeated for over 90 days
Exposure Concepts
Exposure to chemicals may come from many sources:
– Environmental
– Occupational
– Therapeutic
– Dietary
– Accidental
– Deliberate
Individual Responses Can Be
Different
The variety of responses among organisms that get the
same dose of chemical is due to individual susceptibility.
Dose and individual susceptibility play roles in all situations
involving chemicals, including those making medicine and
caffeine.
Introduction to Xenobiotics
*Recall: Foreign
chemicals are synthesized within
the body are termed xenobiotics
(Gr.Xenos meaning “strange”)*
• Xenobiotics may be naturally
occurring chemicals produced by
plants, microorganisms, or animals
(including humans).
• Xenobiotics may also be synthetic chemicals produced by
humans.
