Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

substances from a living

organism An organism is any life, living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have be ...

, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period of

drug withdrawal A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

during which an organism returns to

homeostasis In biology, homeostasis (British English, British also homoeostasis; ) is the state of steady internal physics, physical and chemistry, chemical conditions maintained by organism, living systems. This is the condition of optimal functioning fo ...

after long-term use of an addictive substance. In

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

, detoxification can be achieved by decontamination of poison ingestion and the use of

antidote An antidote is a substance that can counteract a form of poisoning. The term ultimately derives from the Greek term φάρμακον ἀντίδοτον ''(pharmakon antidoton)'', "(medicine) given as a remedy". An older term in English which is ...

s as well as techniques such as dialysis and (in a limited number of cases)

chelation therapy Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that involves the administration of chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body. Chelation therapy has a long history of use in clinical toxicology and remains in use for some very specific medic ...

. Many

alternative medicine Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are ...

practitioners promote various types of detoxification such as detoxification diets. Sense about Science, a UK-based charitable trust, determined that most such dietary "detox" claims lack any supporting evidence. The liver and kidney are naturally capable of detox, as are intracellular (specifically, inner membrane of mitochondria or in the endoplasmic reticulum of cells) proteins such as CYP enzymes. In cases of

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

, the action of the kidneys is mimicked by dialysis;

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

and liver transplants are also used for kidney and liver failure, respectively.

Types

Metal detoxification

Alcohol detoxification

Alcohol detoxification is a process by which a heavy drinker's system is brought back to normal after being habituated to having alcohol in the body continuously for an extended period of substance abuse. Serious alcohol addiction results in a downregulation of

GABA GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid, γ-aminobutyric acid) is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the developmentally mature mammalian central nervous system. Its principal role is reducing neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system. GA ...

neurotransmitter A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a Chemical synapse, synapse. The cell receiving the signal, or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell. Neurotra ...

receptors. Precipitous withdrawal from long-term alcohol addiction without medical management can cause severe health problems and can be fatal. Alcohol detox is not a treatment for

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. After detoxification, other treatments must be undertaken to deal with the underlying addiction that caused alcohol use.

Drug detoxification

Clinicians use drug detoxification to reduce or relieve withdrawal symptoms while helping an addicted person adjust to living without drug use. Drug detoxification does not aim to treat addiction but rather represents an early step within long-term treatment. Detoxification may be achieved drug-free or may use medications as an aspect of treatment. Often drug detoxification and treatment will occur in a community program that lasts several months and takes place in a residential setting rather than in a medical center. Drug detoxification varies depending on the location of treatment, but most detox centers provide treatment to avoid the symptoms of physical withdrawal from alcohol and from other drugs. Most also incorporate

counseling Counseling is the professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes. This is a list of c ...

and therapy during detox to help with the consequences of withdrawal.

Metabolic detoxification

An animal's

metabolism Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...

can produce harmful substances which it can then make less toxic through reduction,

oxidation Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is ...

(collectively known as

redox Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is t ...

reactions),

conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics *Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form *Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics *Complex conjugation, the change o ...

and

excretion Excretion is elimination of metabolic waste, which is an essential process in all organisms. In vertebrates, this is primarily carried out by the lungs, Kidney (vertebrates), kidneys, and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substa ...

of molecules from cells or tissues. This is called

xenobiotic metabolism Xenobiotic metabolism (from the Greek xenos (Greek), xenos "stranger" and biotic "related to living beings") is the set of metabolic pathways that modify the chemical structure of xenobiotics, which are compounds foreign to an organism's normal bi ...

. Enzymes that are important in detoxification metabolism include

cytochrome P450 oxidase Cytochromes P450 (P450s or CYPs) are a superfamily of enzymes containing heme as a cofactor that mostly, but not exclusively, function as monooxygenases. However, they are not omnipresent; for example, they have not been found in ''Escherich ...

s, UDP-glucuronosyltransferases, and glutathione ''S''-transferases. These processes are particularly well-studied as part of drug metabolism, as they influence the

pharmacokinetics Pharmacokinetics (from Ancient Greek ''pharmakon'' "drug" and ''kinetikos'' "moving, putting in motion"; see chemical kinetics), sometimes abbreviated as PK, is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to describing how the body affects a specific su ...

of a drug in the body.

Alternative medicine

Certain approaches in

claim to remove alleged "toxins" from the body through herbal, electrical, electromagnetic or other treatments. These toxins may not be linked to symptoms and treatments have no scientific evidence, making the validity of such techniques questionable. There is little evidence for toxic accumulation in these cases, as the

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

and

s automatically detoxify and excrete many toxic materials including

metabolic Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the ...

wastes. Under this theory, if toxins are too rapidly released without being safely eliminated (such as when metabolizing fat that stores toxins), they can damage the body and cause

malaise In medicine, malaise is a feeling of general discomfort, uneasiness or lack of wellbeing and often the first sign of an infection or other disease. It is considered a vague termdescribing the state of simply not feeling well. The word has exist ...

. Such alternative therapies include contrast showers, detoxification foot pads, oil pulling, Gerson therapy, snake-stones, body cleansing, Scientology's and

Narconon Narconon International (commonly known as Narconon) is a Scientology organization which promotes the theories of founder L. Ron Hubbard regarding substance abuse drug rehabilitation, treatment and addiction. Its parent company is the Associat ...

Purification Rundown The Purification Rundown, also known as the Purif or the Hubbard Method, is a Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific procedure that advocates of Scientology claim is a Detoxification (alternative medicine), detoxification program. There is no evidence f ...

, water fasting, and metabolic therapy.

References

External links

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