Toxicology Case

Toxicology

Advances in modern technology are creating major improvements in toxicology and the evaluation of potential hazards posed by the large amount of chemicals found at low levels in the environment. Any toxicant at large doses can be dangerous but not necessarily cause harm to the human body. There are critical organs in the body that if overwhelmed by toxicants could cause sickness and in some cases in death time (Farr, 2002). In this essay target organ toxicity will be discussed, the role of the liver in environmental toxicology, and responses of living organisms.

In order to understand how toxins affect the body an explanation of a target organ must be discussed. A target organ is an organ or tissue on which a hormone exerts its action; basically a tissue or organ with the right receptors for hormones time (Farr, 2002). A few examples are the thyroid glands, the kidneys, and the liver. All tissue is vulnerable to toxic effects in some degree, but many chemicals demonstrate a larger threat to specific organs known as target organs of toxicity. Some foreign chemicals are lipid soluble compounds that if not metabolized to make it easy to excrete will stay in the body for long periods of time (Cohen, 1991). The major site for xenobiotic metabolism is the liver and with so many chemicals being metabolized to toxic metabolites, the liver is regularly a target organ for toxicity (Cohen, 1991).

The liver is the hardest working organ in the human body, performing multiple functions that are vital to life. The most important role of the liver is that of detoxification. It removes harmful substances by a series of complex chemical reactions. The enzymes in the liver have a role to convert fat soluble toxins into water soluble substances that are easily excreted in the urine or the bile depending on the particular characteristics of the end product (Farr, 2002). The body is bombarded with toxins from both exotoxins (toxins from outside the body) and endotoxins (toxins from within the body) (Farr, 2002). All produce harmful substances and it is the role of the liver to make these harmful products into less harmful compounds.

The reason why chronic liver disease occurs is because of some conditions that cause the liver not to be able to function; normally it is because of scarring the tissue of the lungs. The most common cause of liver disease is alcohol abuse. Alcohol is toxic to the liver cells and will cause inflammation if abused (MedicineNet, 2012). It can also damage the intestines letting toxins from gut bacteria into the liver causing inflammation and scarring (MedicineNet, 2012). Another way it alters the liver is a condition called fatty liver. One of the functions of the liver is to turn glucose into fat to send around the body for storage if needed for later use. The