Toxicology

Toxicology

People are continuously exposed to harmful chemicals from the environment. Routes of exposure are the respiratory system and digestive tract skin. Thus, air, food, and any apical application or contact with toxic environmental chemicals can lead to adverse health effects. In the food system, the toxic chemicals can be natural, formed in the food during processing, transportation, and storage, or deposited on the food from the environment.

Toxic environmental chemicals can be classified into persistent and short-lived reactive. Persistent chemicals such as dioxin, halogenated, and brominated polysaccharides are first activated to reactive chemicals. The activation process is done by the first phase detoxification by the enzyme system of cytochrome p450 so that they can be attached to the second phase of detoxification reagents such as glutathione peroxidase. The short-lived reactive chemicals can readily react with glutathione peroxidase without any modifications. The second phase of detoxification attaches the chemicals to water-soluble reagents such as glutathione converting them to water-soluble chemicals that can be excreted through urine or faces.

However, the short-lived reactive chemicals and the persistent chemicals made reactive by Cytochrome P 450 can react with vital proteins nucleus acids, and fatty acids before they react with the second phase detoxifying chemicals. In this case, the toxic chemicals pose adverse effects on the body before they get excreted.

Exposure to toxic chemicals can be minimized or omitted by first identifying, characterizing, and monitoring the exposure to the chemicals. The role of research in toxicology and the prevention of adverse health effects associated with exposure to toxic chemicals can, therefore, not be ignored.