About this Research Topic
Analytical toxicology is involved with the discovery, identification and measurement of xenobiotics, drugs and their metabolites, and in some cases endogenous compounds in biological and related specimens. In addition, a good understanding of analytical chemistry, clinical chemistry, pathology, clinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and occupational and environmental health is essential to play a useful role in diagnosis, management and the prevention of poisoning. Moreover, analytical toxicologists are required to communicate successfully with pathologists, clinicians, members of the legal profession, veterinarians, coroners, police, and an array of other people in society.
Recent years have seen many innovations in methods for detecting, identifying, and measuring xenobiotics, drugs and other poisons in biological fluids with consequent improvement in the scope and reliability of analytical results. Certain emergency testing methods performed for clinical purposes can have overt medico-legal implications and require a high degree of analytical reliability. The last few years have seen dramatic expansion in the range of compounds that may be misused and have further complicated the role of the analytical toxicologist. Biomarkers are important parameters to take into consideration. They need to be reliable, applicable, reproducible, and generally inexpensive to meet the challenge of the dramatic expansion. Metabolomics is a field that may support toxicologist to identify new biomarkers.
Metabolomics is one of the ‘omics’ approaches that involve high-throughput identification and quantification of small chemical compounds (<1000 to 1500 Da), present in a variety of biological systems such as a cell, an organism, or biological fluids. The metabolome includes endogenous (e.g., amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, carbohydrates, vitamins, lipids, and their derivatives), as well as exogenous (e.g., pollutants, pharmaceuticals, food additives, xenobiotics) compounds.
The targeted and untargeted application of metabolomics to analytical toxicology can help with rapid screening of most metabolites and detect potential changes in their concentrations leading to a better understanding of complex physiological, biological and biochemical interactions in various models, and is valuable particularly due to the expansion of the range of compounds being tested.
This article collection aims to highlight metabolomic studies pertinent to all areas of analytical toxicology (environmental, clinical, forensic, testing for substance misuse, therapeutic drug monitoring and occupational toxicology). Original data pertinent to this Research Topic are invited.
Recent years have seen many innovations in methods for detecting, identifying, and measuring xenobiotics, drugs and other poisons in biological fluids with consequent improvement in the scope and reliability of analytical results. Certain emergency testing methods performed for clinical purposes can have overt medico-legal implications and require a high degree of analytical reliability. The last few years have seen dramatic expansion in the range of compounds that may be misused and have further complicated the role of the analytical toxicologist. Biomarkers are important parameters to take into consideration. They need to be reliable, applicable, reproducible, and generally inexpensive to meet the challenge of the dramatic expansion. Metabolomics is a field that may support toxicologist to identify new biomarkers.
Metabolomics is one of the ‘omics’ approaches that involve high-throughput identification and quantification of small chemical compounds (<1000 to 1500 Da), present in a variety of biological systems such as a cell, an organism, or biological fluids. The metabolome includes endogenous (e.g., amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, carbohydrates, vitamins, lipids, and their derivatives), as well as exogenous (e.g., pollutants, pharmaceuticals, food additives, xenobiotics) compounds.
The targeted and untargeted application of metabolomics to analytical toxicology can help with rapid screening of most metabolites and detect potential changes in their concentrations leading to a better understanding of complex physiological, biological and biochemical interactions in various models, and is valuable particularly due to the expansion of the range of compounds being tested.
This article collection aims to highlight metabolomic studies pertinent to all areas of analytical toxicology (environmental, clinical, forensic, testing for substance misuse, therapeutic drug monitoring and occupational toxicology). Original data pertinent to this Research Topic are invited.
Keywords: Metabolomics, Forensic, Clinical, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, Substance Misuse, Biomarkers discovery, Machine learning
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