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Research and Reviews: A Journal of Toxicology

Toxicology and Its Branches: A Brief Review

  1. Supriya Krishna
  2. Ashok Kumar Jaiswal
  3. Rageshree Kundu
  4. Sandhya Sradhanjali Bahal

Abstract

Toxicology is called the science of poisons or can be defined as any substance, whose exposure can cause harm to any living body or to the environment. It can also be defined as the study of adverse effects of different chemical, biological or physical agents on living organisms and the ecosystems, including the prevention & enhancement of such adverse effects. It is concerned with all aspects of different poisons and their poisonings. The basic principle in toxicology is that every substance is a toxin. The concept of dose; ‘Drug in higher dosage can be poison and poison in limited dose can be a drug’ perfectly summarizes the subject. Toxicology is thus the qualitative and quantitative study of the adverse or toxic effect of chemicals and other anthropogenic materials or xenobiotics on organisms. It deals with the potential deleterious impact of chemicals, present as pollutants of the environment and to the living organisms. Toxicity of a substance can be affected by many different factors, such as the route of administration, duration of exposure, number of exposures, physical form of the toxicant, age, genetic makeup of an individual, overall health, and many others. A comprehensive search of electronic and physical databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Direct, PubMed, Shodhganga, Google Scholar) were made regarding subject toxicology and its individual branches. The paper hopes that readers will appreciate the broadest perspective possible of the different branches of an ever growing subject.

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