Cornerstones of Toxicology

Abstract

The 35th Annual Society of Toxicologic Pathology Symposium, held in June 2016 in San Diego, CA, focused on “The Basis and Relevance of Variation in Toxicologic Responses. In order to review the basic tenants of toxicology a ‘broad brush” interactive talk was presented that gave an overview of the Cornerstones of Toxicology. The presentation focused on the historical milestones and perspectives of toxicology and through many scientific graphs, data, and real-life examples covered the three basic principles of toxicology that can be summarized as dose matters (as does timing), people differ, and things change (related to metabolism and biotransformation).

Scopoletin: a review of its pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and toxicity

“…The degree of harmfulness and safety seems to depend on the chemical dose. Therefore, this concept has become the hub of modern toxicology, meaning that dose determines toxicity (Hayes and Dixon, 2017).…”

The sentinel role of forensic toxicology laboratories to identify and act upon diverse drug threats by addressing toxicology and economic demands

“…There is a myriad of challenges that the forensic laboratory faces with ever-increasing toxicology demands. These diverse challenges include rapidly emerging and changing unknown substances in the drug market, legislation requirements (e.g., cannabis legalization, 2018 Farm Bill for hemp products, fentanyl analogs), analytical requirements, testing turnaround times, and training [ 2 , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] ]; U.S. Congress, 2018).…”

“…Rapidly expanding unknown substances of abuse, characterized as emerging drug threats, require constant surveillance by forensic toxicologists [ 2 ]. These emerging substances continue to evolve and change, forcing identification and detection schemes to keep up or risk non-discovery [ 2 , 24 ]. These drug threats have driven forensic toxicologists to adopt new methods for detection and identification.…”

“…Although toxicology has advanced over time, it has retained the notion that “the dose makes the poison,” and toxicologists must remain observant of this concept with the abuse of emergent drugs at an all-time high [ 2 , 24 ]. The continuous introduction of unknown misused substances complicates laboratory development of robust and validated methods and complex case interpretation are standards [ 29 ].…”