BIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Fall Term, 2007
Review for Exam 3
1. Be able to discuss the major points made in the videotape, “Assault on the Male”
2. Understand the meaning of “xenobiotic”
3. Understand the 3 basic paradigm elements of environmental toxicology (i.e., assessing fate & transport of toxicants; determining the site(s) of action; evaluating effects at higher levels of organization [tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems])
4. Know the major pieces of Federal Legislation that have toxicological testing components
5. Understand the differences among LD50, LC50, EC50, IC50, NOEC, NOEL, NOAEC, NOAEL, LOEC, LOEL, MTC, MATC
6. Be able to draw and interpret an typical dose-response curve
7. Understand the assumptions behind the dose-response relationship
8. Understand the utility of the static test chamber, the static-renewal test chamber, the recirculating chamber, and the continuous flow-through chamber
9. Know the 3 test organisms that provided the greatest sensitivity to toxicants in aquatic toxicity testing as determined by Mayer and Ellersjeck
10. Understand the ASTM criteria for standardized test organisms for toxicity testing
11. Understand the design rationale and major end-points for the acute and chronic toxicity tests discussed in class
12. Understand how physical-chemical parameters of a xenobiotic (e.g., vapor pressure, specific gravity, Log KOW) govern its environmental fate
13. Understand the concept and utility of QSARs
14. Understand how heavy metals (such as Pb) exert adverse effects on vertebrates
15. Understand the basic mechanisms and significance of Phase I primary transformation reactions, and Phase II conjugations
16. Understand the significance of bacterial transformation of xenobiotics vs. transformation of xenobiotics carried out by eukaryotes
17. Understand the concepts of potentiation and synergism
18. Understand how molecules move across biological membranes
19. Understand the differences fates of xenobiotics in body storage depots vs. tissues/organs where metabolism may occur
20. Understand the concept of receptor-mediated toxicity
21. Understand the concept of threshold
22. Understand the physiological basis of the concept of narcosis
23. Understand the concept and significance of bioavailability
24. Understand what risk-benefit analysis can be useful for
25. Understand the concepts and uses of biomarkers, sentinel species, and species diversity/abundance metrics