Toxic Substances, Toxicology, and Toxicological Chemistry

Toxicology is the science of poisons or toxicants, substances that damage or destroy living tissue or that cause biochemical processes to malfunction. The remainder of this chapter discusses the chemical aspects of toxicology, that is, toxicological chemistry. 

Although many toxic snbstances are foreign to living systems and are called xenobiotic substances, others are produced by organisms. Many toxicants, especially xenobiotics, have an affinity for lipids, meaning that they undergo bioaccumulation in the fat tissne of animals and cross the lipid cell membranes readily. Probably, most substances classified as toxic require activation by biochemical processes to have any toxic effects and are properly called protoxicants. 

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