Toxicity

Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture or agent (chemical, physical, biological, radioactive) can damage an organism[7][3]. It encompasses a wide variety of mechanisms, including enzyme inhibition or activation, membrane damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage, disruption of protein synthesis, and induction of oxidative stress[1][2][4][5][6][8]. Toxicity is not a molecular entity but a phenotype or outcome resulting from the interaction between toxicants and biological systems. The field of toxicology studies these adverse effects, their molecular and cellular mechanisms (such as activation of signaling cascades or alteration of gene expression), and factors (e.g., absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion) that modulate toxic responses[3][9].

Other names

Toxic effecttoxic responsecellular toxicitybiochemical toxicityadverse effect