title: [Apoptosis in toxicologic pathology].
abstract: Toxicologic pathology provides expertise to the interpretation of the toxicity and safety of pharmaceuticals, biological agents, human and animal food aditives, environmental and industrial chemicals, and medical devices in animal studies. The histopathology findings are integrated with other study data (clinical and biochemistry data, autopsy) providing a comprehensive report on efficacy and safety of a chemical, device or material and the relationship of toxicity to exposure. Since its discovery, apoptosis emerged as a molecular control point in the regulation of physiological processes, toxic insults and diseases by means of a programmed cell death. Numerous factors include chemicals, oxidative stress, anoxia, and irradiation. Suppression, overexpression or mutation of a number of genes which orchestrate the apoptotic process are associated with disease. Also, the disbalance in apoptosis processes is documented in viral, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as in tumors. Research in the pharmacologic industry is driven toward developing new drugs for treatment schedules for these and other diseases. Toxicologic pathology findings of apoptosis should assist regulatory agencies in understanding the potential hazard or benefit of the tested substance (is the finding of apoptosis normal variation, spontaneous event or provoked by tested drug). Since the great majority of initial histopathological examinations made on toxicity studies and animal disease models are done on routine hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides, the morphology alone is sufficient for accurate and adequate identification of apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Srebrnjak Children's Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia. zferencic@bolnica-srebrnjak.hr
authors.forename: Zeljko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ferencić
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D018675:Toxicity Tests