Toxicology

Toxicology (from the Ancient Greek words τοξικός toxikos "poisonous" and λόγος logos) is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine (more specifically pharmacology) concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. It also studies the harmful effects of chemical, biological and physical agents in biological systems that establishes the extent of damage in living organisms. The relationship between dose and its effects on the exposed organism is of high significance in toxicology. Factors that influence chemical toxicity include the dosage (and whether it is acute or chronic); the route of exposure, the species, age, sex and environment.

History

Dioscorides, a Greek physician in the court of the Roman emperor Nero, made the first attempt to classify plants according to their toxic and therapeutic effect.Ibn Wahshiyya wrote the Book on Poisons in the 9th or 10th century. This was followed up in 1360 by Khagendra Mani Darpana.

Mathieu Orfila is considered the modern father of toxicology, having given the subject its first formal treatment in 1813 in his Traité des poisons, also called Toxicologie générale.

Toxicology (journal)

Toxicology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the adverse effects of xenobiotics on the health of humans and other animals. It is affiliated with the German Toxicology Society.

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in BIOSIS Previews, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, Current Contents/Life Sciences, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PASCAL, Science Citation Index, and Scopus. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2014 impact factor of 3.621.

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