 |
|
 |
|
| Capillaries |
| | The very small blood vessels that take blood from small arteries to small veins. |
|
| Carcinogen |
| | A compound which is capable of causing cancer. |
|
| Carcinogenic |
| | The ability of a substance to cause cancer. |
|
| Carcinogenicity |
| | The complex process whereby normal body cells are transformed to cancer cells. |
|
| Catalyst |
| | A substance that accelerates a reaction. |
|
| Cell membrane |
| | The membrane composed of phospholipids, proteins, and cholesterol that form the outer boundary of a cell and regulates the movement of substances into and out of the cell. |
|
| Cholestasis |
| | A liver condition in which excretion of bile salts via the bile duct is inhibited resulting in bile salts backing up into liver cells. |
|
| Chronic Effect |
| | An effect that either shows up a long time after an exposure (the latency period) or an effect that results from a long-term (chronic) exposure. |
|
| Compartment |
| | As used in toxicokinetics, compartment is a hypothetical volume of a body system wherein a chemical acts homogeneously in transport and transformation. The body is composed of organs, tissues, cells, cell organelles, and fluids, any one or several of which may be referred to as a compartment. |
|
| Concentration Gradient |
| | The relative amounts of a substance on either side of a membrane. Diffusion occurs from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration. |
|
| Conjugate |
| | A metabolite that results form the joining of a Phase II molecule with a xenobiotic. It is generally more water soluble that the original substance. |
|
| Conjugation |
| | A metabolic process in which chemical groups are attached to foreign substances in the body, usually making the conjugated chemical more water soluble and easier to eliminate from the body. |
|
| Covalent Bond |
| | The joining together of atoms that results from sharing electrons. |
|
| Cytochrome P -450 |
| | An iron-protein complex with a maximum absorbance of visible light at 450 nm that functions as a nonspecific enzyme system during Phase I biotransformation reactions. |
|
| Cytoplasm |
| | The fluid matrix of a cell exclusive of the nucleus. Cytoplasm consists of a continuous aqueous solution (cytosol) and the organelles and inclusions suspended in it. This is the site of most chemical activities within the cell. |
|
| Cytosol |
| | The liquid medium of the cytoplasm, that is, cytoplasm without the organelles and nonmembraneous insoluble components. |
|
 |
