Title: acute toxicity
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - acute toxicity
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.AT06800
Status: current

Definition
Adverse effects of finite duration occurring within a short time (up to $\pu{14 d}$) after administration of a single dose (or exposure to a given concentration) of a test substance or after multiple doses (exposures), usually within $\pu{24 h}$ of a starting point (which may be exposure to the toxicant, or loss of reserve capacity, or developmental change, etc.)Ability of a substance to cause adverse effects within a short time of dosing or exposure.

Related Terms
- dose: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/DT07361
- exposure: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/ET06811

Source
- PAC, 2004, 76, 1033. 'Glossary of terms used in toxicokinetics (IUPAC Recommendations 2003)' on page 1037 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac200476051033)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/AT06800/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/AT06800/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/AT06800/xml

Citation: Citation: 'acute toxicity' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.AT06800
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-01-12T23:41:02+00:00