ABSTRACT
Techniques used to culture animal and human cells and tissues on plastic surfaces or in suspension have contributed significantly to the development of toxicology testing. Cell culture techniques are fundamental for understanding mechanistic toxicology and have been used with increasing frequency in all biomedical disciplines. Homogeneous cell populations isolated from the framework of an organ present unique opportunities to study the toxic effects on a single cell type. Among the organs that have proved to be of particular interest as target organs of toxicity are the lung, liver, skin, and kidney and the hematopoietic, nervous, and immune systems. The clinical toxicity of chemicals is known to involve various physiological targets interacting with a variety of complex toxicokinetic factors. Chemicals induce injury through an assortment of toxic mechanisms. The level of activity varies from one organ to another, depending on its metabolic rate and contribution to homeostasis, but the processes do not differ qualitatively among organs.
