What is cytotoxicity?
Cytotoxicity is a term used for substances to describe how toxic or poisonous to cells that may be potentially. Exposure of cytotoxic substances can lead to permanent damage to cells or even death. Laboratory tests and tests on substances or components are often performed to determine cytotoxicity levels that will be included in any medicine or medical device. As for its etymology, the term "cytotoxicity" is a combination of two Greek words: "guitos" concerning the cell and the "toxicon" concerning the poison. Substances
that can be described as cytotoxic may include some chemicals or even other cell types. As for chemicals, some naturally produced may come in the form of animal poison, such as some spiders and snakes. For example, it is known that the viper family releases the type of cytotoxin called hemotoxin, which may burst red blood cells and cause internal bleeding and organ damage. Another dangerous cytotoxin is the cardiotoxin that isoften associated with the poisonous bite of the King Cobra. Toxin connects to the muscle cells in the heart, causing the organ to stop the drawing of blood, which can lead to death.
In terms of synthetically produced chemicals, their cytotoxicity does not always bring a negative effect, but can actually be used as treatment. This is the case of chemotherapy, a common treatment option in cancer patients. One of the characteristics of malignant or cancer cells is that they multiply at unusually fast speed; What chemotherapy does is either from preventing these cells, or eventually killing them.
A good thing for chemotherapy is that many important types of cells in the body - such as cells in the heart, brain and bones - are not affected because their normal regeneration rate is not as fast as in malignant cells. However, other cells that can be influenced by a rapid turnover. These cells canOU include cells in the intestines, hair and mouth. That is why patients with cancer undergo chemotherapy may cause diarrhea, hair loss and mouth pain, including side effects caused by cytotoxicity chemotherapy.
The human body also produces cytotoxic cells that help fight viruses and a foreign body causing infection. One of these cells is the type of white blood cells called "cytotoxic t cell", which has the ability to kill damaged cells due to virus or tumor. Another type is the "natural killer cell", a white blood cell that drains some proteins and somehow "programs" infected cells to die.