Molecular and Cellular Concepts in Toxicology

Abstract

Toxins and toxicants that modify cellular or molecular processes can have repercussions throughout the organism. These interactions can be common to all cell types, or may reflect unique targets or unique bioactivations that are to be found in limited subpopulations of cells. The consequences of these modifications will produce a host of different changes. These changes can be characterized by measurements of transcription factor activity, gene expression at the RNA or protein level, by cellular molecular responses that attempt to re‐establish homoeostasis, and by the consequences to cellular organelle structure and function. This chapter provides an overview of the inter‐relationships between toxicant effect and cellular response, and also describes current technologies that can be used to assess the myriad of changes that may characterize toxin and toxicant exposure at the molecular and cellular levels.