Applications of hormesis in toxicology, risk assessment and chemotherapeutics.
There is much debate over the fundamental shape of the dose-response curve in the low-dose zone, particularly in the fields of toxicology and risk assessment. The defaults, principally accepted dose-response models in the major texts in these areas and in government regulatory activities, are a threshold model for non-carcinogens and a linear model for most carcinogens. We have argued that in properly designed studies the U-shaped hormetic response predominates and is more fundamental. In this article, a broad range of basic issues associated with the acceptance of U-shaped dose responses as central to toxicology, pharmacology and their applications to risk assessment and medicine will be discussed.
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 10003, USA. edwardc@schoolph.umass.edu
Edward J
EJ
Calabrese
Linda A
LA
Baldwin
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000633:toxicity; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D010600:Pharmacology; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D014116:Toxicology / Q000379:methods*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002273:Carcinogens