Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology

In toxicology, the main concern is applied in establishing food safety rather than on studying the toxic effects. Important considerations in relation to toxicology of food include natural food components, food contaminants and food additives. Rapid growth in using new food additives has increased the need to find new high-throughput testing approaches for chemical toxicity in food safety. Currently, toxicology is observing patterned shift in evaluation of chemical hazards in food safety.

The primary scope of toxicological studies in the drug development process is to evaluate the safety of potential drugs. This is accomplished using relevant animal models and validated procedures. The ultimate goal is to translate the animal model responses into an understanding of the risk for the human subjects. The drug toxicology plays a very important role in assessing the safety of the drug.

Environmental toxicology is a field of science which studies the harmful effects of different physical, biological, physical and chemical agents on living things, while ecotoxicology focuses on studying the effects of toxicants at the level of population and ecosystem. Organisms may come into contact with different toxicants throughout their lifetime, and different organism may respond differently to specific toxicant. Position in the food web can also affect the toxicity of any compound which may be because of the bioaccumulation of the toxic compound.

The study of genetic damage which results in the alteration to heritable information is known as genetic toxicology. Genetic toxicology also studies the agents responsible for the genotoxicity along with the mechanisms responsible for cellular damage. Genotoxicity is very common chemical property and is defined as “the dose makes the poison”. Although we are exposed to different radiations and other environmental genotoxins, we have effective cellular mechanisms which are the outcome of evolution that diminish the harmful effects. Cellular mechanisms help in the repairing or elimination of the damaged cells.

When chemicals come in contact with the body, they can show certain toxic effects. It is very important to understand the nature of the chemical as it can be very toxic to human health. Exposure to certain chemical may lead to health effects directly at the contact site or somewhere else in the body and the effects can be seen immediately or after certain period of time. Precautions before coming in contact with harmful substance is very necessary, so as to protect ourselves from chemical exposure and consequences associated with it. Minimizing the exposure is the rule to keep in mind to save from toxic effects.

Discovering a new drug is difficult, tedious and expensive process, it can take up-to years and number of failures to develop a new successful drug.  In spite of this, many drugs fail later in the screening processes due to unseen toxic effects and side effects. Hence selection of appropriate models and assays to check on target is necessary to predict the toxicity at early stages and designing new paths in developing new successful drug. Early toxicity screening may help in eliminating the drugs which are not eligible for drug development processes.

Risk is defined as the relationship between hazard and its possibility of exposure. Toxicological risk assessment is basically the evaluation of the health risks which are associated with exposure to contaminants, impurities etc. On the basis of the data collected, risk assessment is carried out so as to check whether the product is suitable for use and does not carry toxicological properties; since they can be unacceptable from a governing point of view.

Biochemical toxicology deals with the processes that occur at the cellular and molecular levels when toxic chemicals interact with living organism. Defining these interactions is fundamental to our understanding of toxic effects, both acute and chronic, and is essential for the development of new therapies, for the determination of toxic hazard and for the development of new clinical drugs for medicine and biocides for agriculture. On the other hand molecular toxicology is a field concerned with the various chemicals effect on living organism.

The main aim of Industrial and occupational toxicology is to reduce the risk of biological and chemical hazards which arise due to the exposure to work environment. Occupational toxicology studies the effect of the substances that can come in contact with the workers during the course of their service. The place of work plays a major role in creating adverse effects on human health due to biological and chemical hazards for ages. Toxicologists rely on the animal and human data to determine safe levels of exposure. This data can be used in laboratory for investigation of the mechanisms that may lead to hazardous effects.

Toxicity testing or safety assessment is carried out to check the level to which a substance can cause damage to organisms. These tests are carried out by researchers by using standard test procedures which can fulfill government regulations. Preclinical development is recommended for much toxic products. In vivo and In vitro tests are carried out to determine safe doses for humans. These testing can be carried out by biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical companies or contract research organizations.

During the development of the new drug to predict the toxicity, and other safety variables as well as the effectiveness of new products, traditional testing of chemicals, consumer products should be tested for safety in animal studies before being approved for human testing. There are various steps involved in the testing of the product for its toxicity. Product development toxicology is an emerging branch in the recent times.

Identification and evaluation of the toxic risks which are present in a community and to find the measures to reduce the risk of toxicity to eliminate is important. At the genetic level, collection, interpretation and the storage of genetic information can help in understanding the effects of toxic substances at genetic level or it’s effect in the formation of protein in a particular cell or tissue.

Progress in organic understanding and in creating experimental technologies has resulted in growing different tactics in appreciation the ailment and toxicology other than which are historically known. One example is of combining present understanding of new chemical and organic expertise with normal biology which is the main to a transparent, structured and hypothetical based approach in predicting the extreme results which may additionally result from these perturbations.

In vivo toxicology studies are carried out to assess the severity on onset, duration of toxic effects, degree of reversibility and dose dependency. In vitro toxicity testing is a scientific method of analysis for toxic chemical substances on cultured mammalian cell lines or bacterial cell lines. In vitro testing is carried out to identify the chemicals which are potentially hazardous and to confirm the lacking toxic properties at initial stages of development for new possibly useful therapeutic drugs. In vivo toxicological studies are carried out on multiple species such as rodents, guinea pig, rabbits through different routes of exposure such as topical, intravenous, intramuscular etc.

Study of action of drugs which can be man-made, endogenous and natural or a molecule which exhibits a physical or biological effect on tissue, organ, organism or a single cell is known as pharmacology. In earlier times, pharmacology focused on natural substances most of which were plants, but from 19th century, pharmacologists started the use of genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, and other tools to renovate the information gathered about mechanisms at molecular level and to target a therapy against specific disease. This information is useful to design a method for preventive care, diagnosis and ultimately personalized medicine.

Advances in pharmacology during the last few decades have been useful in revolutionizing all aspects in modern life. Production of new drugs has significantly contributed to new developments in health and economic impacts. Acquiring new knowledge in the fields of pharmacology will certainly accelerate in future. On numerous disciplines and technological advances, pharmacology has a profound impact in designing and discovering a new molecule.

Pharmacotherapy is using pharmaceutical drugs and is different from surgical therapy, physical therapy, radiation therapy, or other modes. It is supported by basic science with additional focus on applying principles of pharmacology and quantitative methods. Clinical pharmacology fills the gap between laboratory science and medicinal practice. The main motto of clinical pharmacology is to enhance the safety of prescription, maximize the effects of drugs and to minimize the side effects.

Cancer is associated with abnormal cell growth which has a potential of spreading to other parts of the body. Any substances or exposures (chemical, biological or physical) which can result in to cancer are known as carcinogens. If accumulation of these substances occurs in large amount in human body, for a longer period of time, it may lead to cell damage ultimately resulting in the formation of cancerous cells.

Pharmacology is the branch of biology which deals with the drugs and the drug metabolism within the human body. Applied pharmacology is the branch which involves all the applications of the toxicology and pharmacology. It mainly involves the branches like the pharmacogenomics, pharmacoepidmeology, pharmacotherapeutics. The applied pharmacology includes all the novel techniques and discoveries in the field of the pharmacology and toxicology.