A thorough understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the individual expression of toxic effects provides an important tool for assessment of human health risk. New aspects, major advances, and new areas in molecular and cellular biology and toxicology demand updated sources of information to elucidate the functional mechanics of human toxicology. Mechanistic Toxicology: The Molecular Basis of How Chemicals Disrupt Biological Targets, Second Edition retains the accessible format of the original to present the general principles that link xenobiotic-induced toxicity with the molecular pathways that underlie these toxic effects. Extensively illustrated, this book forms a conceptual bridge between multiple events at the molecular level and the determinants of toxicity at the physiological and cellular level. Specific examples of drugs, environmental pollutants, and other chemicals are carefully chosen to illustrate and highlight the fundamental mechanisms of toxicity at different toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic levels. The book includes references and review articles at the end of each chapter, as well as boxed text for relevant review information on biological, biochemical, molecular, and toxicological background. Linking molecular pathways to more general biomedical contexts, the author ensures that the reader is not lost in the details and instead receives a broad understanding of the processes underlying xenobiotic toxicity. New in the Second Edition Updated chapters Types of toxic responses Disruption of signal transduction by xenobiotics Disruption of mitochondrial function Novel mechanisms derived from systems toxicology

Encouraging the incorporation of molecular biology techniques into the experimental approach to various toxicological problems, the format of the book is two-staged. Each chapter first introduces how various molecular techniques can be successfully applied to solving a specific toxicology question and proceeds to describe the techniques themselves. Also included is a discussion of the benefits and limitations of these techniques . This book will prove of value to practising researchers, but also to graduate students dealing with conceptual issues relating to molecular toxicology.

Environmental toxicology is generally held to be the study of the potential of constituents of outdoor environments to impact either human health or the biological structure of the ecosystems involved. This volume is a first attempt to integrate toxicological studies of all of the many human environments, both indoor and outdoor, and their complex interrelationships. Included are considerations of natural environments, the agroecosystem, occupational, urban and domestic environments as well as the environment associated with Superfund sites and military deployments. The primary emphasis is on public health, including the potential health effects of toxicants found in different environments, the bioprocessing of such toxicants in humans and surrogate animals and the principles of risk analysis. Approaches the toxicology of human environments in a new and unique way, stressing the complex interrelationships of all human environments and the implication for human and environmental health Each chapter is written by an acknowledged expert and is addressed to those interested in the broader implications of the environmental modifications that are always associated with the activities of humans living and working in them

With the recent rapid developments in drug discovery, including advances in both drug design and combinatorial chemistry, toxicology is becoming an increasingly important proactive tool. In addition to new compound testing, toxicity studies can also shed light on normal bodily processes through the understanding of adverse ones. Molecular Toxicology is a concise introduction to the subject, taking the reader through the theoretical principles of toxicology followed by specific examples. In the first section, the concepts behind possible mechanisms of toxicity are described (e. g. the specific enzyme or receptor system) using examples where appropriate. Following this a series of examples are used to show the extension of concept into the real world, in an organ specific manner. The book concludes with a section outlining toxicity assessment methods, where the impact of molecular biology is having a considerable impact, including DNA microarrays, proteomics and bioinformatics.

The new field of toxicogenomics presents a potentially powerful set of tools to better understand the health effects of exposures to toxicants in the environment. At the request of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Research Council assembled a committee to identify the benefits of toxicogenomics, the challenges to achieving them, and potential approaches to overcoming such challenges. The report concludes that realizing the potential of toxicogenomics to improve public health decisions will require a concerted effort to generate data, make use of existing data, and study data in new waysâ€"an effort requiring funding, interagency coordination, and data management strategies.

Advances in molecular biology and toxicology are paving the way for major improvements in the evaluation of the hazards posed by the large number of chemicals found at low levels in the environment. The National Research Council was asked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review the state of the science and create a far-reaching vision for the future of toxicity testing. The book finds that developing, improving, and validating new laboratory tools based on recent scientific advances could significantly improve our ability to understand the hazards and risks posed by chemicals. This new knowledge would lead to much more informed environmental regulations and dramatically reduce the need for animal testing because the new tests would be based on human cells and cell components. Substantial scientific efforts and resources will be required to leverage these new technologies to realize the vision, but the result will be a more efficient, informative and less costly system for assessing the hazards posed by industrial chemicals and pesticides.

Scientific Frontiers in Developmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment reviews advances made during the last 10-15 years in fields such as developmental biology, molecular biology, and genetics. It describes a novel approach for how these advances might be used in combination with existing methodologies to further the understanding of mechanisms of developmental toxicity, to improve the assessment of chemicals for their ability to cause developmental toxicity, and to improve risk assessment for developmental defects. For example, based on the recent advances, even the smallest, simplest laboratory animals such as the fruit fly, roundworm, and zebrafish might be able to serve as developmental toxicological models for human biological systems. Use of such organisms might allow for rapid and inexpensive testing of large numbers of chemicals for their potential to cause developmental toxicity; presently, there are little or no developmental toxicity data available for the majority of natural and manufactured chemicals in use. This new approach to developmental toxicology and risk assessment will require simultaneous research on several fronts by experts from multiple scientific disciplines, including developmental toxicologists, developmental biologists, geneticists, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians.