title: Bioavailability in dose and exposure assessment of organic contaminants in (eco)toxicology.
abstract: The dose is an essential element in toxicology and risk assessment. In most cases, the dose is expressed as a concentration in the external environment. The internal dose is a more direct measure for the exposure in toxicological assays, because it takes differences in bioavailability into account. Because the internal dose is often not measurable, the effective free concentration in a medium or the environment is a useful alternative. This short review discusses the advantages of free concentration measurements of organic compounds for interpretation of effects in sediment and soil tests as well as for in vitro assays.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. j.hermens@iras.uu.nl
authors.forename: Joop L M
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hermens
authors.forename: Minne B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Heringa
authors.forename: Thomas L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: ter Laak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001682:Biological Availability; D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004463:Ecology; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D014116:Toxicology
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants