Objectives: Regarding the different disciplines that encompass the pharmacology and the toxicology, none is specifically dedicated to the description and analysis of the time-course of relevant toxic effects both in experimental and clinical studies. The lack of a discipline devoted to this major field in toxicology results in misconception and even in errors by clinicians.
Material and methods: Review of the basic different disciplines that encompass pharmacology toxicology and comparing with the description of the time-course of effects in conditions in which toxicological analysis was not performed or with limited analytical evidence.
Results: Review of the literature clearly shows how misleading is the current extrapolation of toxicokinetic data to the description of the time-course of toxic effects.
Conclusion: A new discipline entitled toxicodynetics should be developed aiming at a more systematic description of the time-course of effects in acute human and experimental poisonings. Toxicodynetics might help emergency physicians in risk assessment when facing a poisoning and contribute to a better assessment of quality control of data collected by poison control centres. Toxicodynetics would also allow a quantitative approach to the clinical effects resulting from drug-drug interaction.
Keywords: Intoxication; Overdoses; Pharmacocinétiques; Pharmacodynamics; Pharmacodynamie; Pharmacokinetics; Poisonings; Surdose; Toxicocinétique; Toxicodynamics; Toxicodynamie; Toxicodynetics; Toxicodynétique; Toxicokinetics.
Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.