**1. Introduction**

Cell cytotoxicity refers to the ability of certain chemicals or mediator cells to destroy living cells. The cytotoxicity is a very important aspect, as destruction of healthy living cells around the wound will have a negative impact on the healing process. Cytotoxicity is the general quality of being toxic to cells, and can be caused by chemical stimuli, exposure to other cells (NK or T cells for example), or physical/environmental conditions (radiation exposure, temperature or pressure extremes, etc.) [1]. Chemical toxicity can occur in many ways, but we hypothesize that it can be broadly classified into two major categories: disruption of specific biomolecular targets or pathways (e.g., receptor agonist/antagonist effects and enzyme activation/inhibition), or generalized disruption of cellular machinery that can lead to cell stress and cytotoxicity [2]. Chemical toxicity can arise from disruption of specific biomolecular functions or through more generalized cell stress and cytotoxicity-mediated processes. Chemical toxicity can occur in disruption of specific biomolecular targets or pathways (e.g., receptor agonist/antagonist effects and enzyme activation/inhibition), or generalized disruption of cellular machinery that can lead to cell stress and cytotoxicity. Cell-disruptive processes include protein, DNA, or lipid reactivity; physicochemical disruption of proteins or membranes (e.g., by surfactants); or processes such as apoptosis, oxidative stress response, mitochondrial disruption, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, microtubule disruption, or heat shock response [2]. Treating cells with a cytotoxic compound can result in a variety of cell fates. By using a cytotoxic compound, healthy living cells can either be induced to undergo necrosis (accidental cell death) or apoptosis (programmed cell death). Whereas apoptotic cell death is slower, more orderly, and is genetically controlled, the cells may undergo necrosis, in which they rapidly loss membrane integrity and die rapidly as a result of cell lysis. The cells can stop actively growing and dividing (a decrease in cell viability). Cytostasis is a special category of cytotoxicity, wherein cells remain alive but fail to grow and divide [1]. Cell death/cytotoxicity cannot be the sole causal driver of this phenomenon. Some cytotoxicity may be driven by physicochemical factors, such

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.77244

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

as protein denaturation or reactivity, which would affect both the cell-free and cell-based assays. Another possibility is very low-affinity non-covalent binding to receptors, enzymes, etc. that only occurs at very high concentrations [2].

or chemical substances should be helpful in creating proper different models for extrapolation to low doses. In addition, biomarkers of exposure are gaining importance as tolls in the cytotoxicity research. The detection of the cytotoxic chemicals in humans may be useful in assessing human exposure or cellular injury. Also, understanding specific mechanisms may be useful in identifying the potential target tissues *in vivo* because cell types have different

Introductory Chapter: Cytotoxicity

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http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.77244

Today, we need to understand the cytotoxicity that particular cells, organs, and organism are facing and identifying specific treatment interventions to address their unique needs both at macro- and micro-levels. The scope of this book goes precisely toward this direction. Each chapter offers the ways of intervention to address some of the most pressing cytotoxic chemi-

Cytotoxicity book is a web based resource, encompassing some of the cytotoxicity natural and different chemical substance, such as natural coumarins, colchicine alkaloids, titania nanosheets, asbestos fiber, nanomaterials, nanocrystals, and composites, and curcumin

"Cytotoxicity" is an essential reading to all medical students, biologist, biochemist, and professionals involved in the field of toxicology. The book is an useful and ideal guide for novice researchers interested in learning research methods to study cytotoxic bioactive compounds.

Department of Biology, Art and Science Faculty, Adnan Menderes University, Central

[1] ACEA Biosciences Inc. 2015. Available from: https://www.aceabio.com/applications/

[2] Judson R, Houck K, Martin M, Richard AM, Knudsen TB, Shah I, Little S, Wambaugh J, Setzer RW, Kothya P, Phuong J, Filer D, Smith D, Reif D, Rotroff D, Kleinstreuer N, Sioes N, Xia M, Huang R, Crofton K, Thomas RS. Analysis of the effects of cell stress and cytotoxicity on *in vitro* assay activity across a diverse chemical and assay space. Toxicological

[3] Li W, Zhou J, Xu Y. Study of the *in vitro* cytotoxicity testing of medical devices (review).

capacities to handle different types of chemicals.

loaded copolymer encapsulated ZnO nanocomposites.

Address all correspondence to: tcelik@adu.edu.tr

cals of our time.

**Author details**

Tülay Aşkin Çelik

**References**

Campus, Aydin, Turkey

cytotoxicity/27.02.2018

Sciences. 2016;**152**(2):323-339

Biomedical Reports. 2015;**3**:617-620

#### **1.1. Cytotoxicity**

Cytotoxicity is one of the most important methods for biological evaluation as it has a series of advantages, along with the preferred and mandatory items. Given this information, the ability to accurately measure cytotoxicity can prove to be a very valuable tool in identifying compounds that might pose certain health risks in humans [3]. The cytotoxicity test is one of the most important indicators of the biological evaluation system *in vitro* to observe the cell growth, reproduction and morphological effects by chemicals, and with the progress of modern cell biology; experimental methods to evaluate cytotoxicity are also continuously being developed and improved [3].
