Which Cells are Most Vulnerable to Toxic Insult?
The cells most vulnerable to toxic insult are the 'primitive cells' (stem cells and progenitors) in bone marrow that are known to be highly sensitive to the effects of particular drugs, environmental pollutants and agrochemicals.
Since the stem cell compartment is generally the first to be affected by any toxic insult measuring hemotoxicity only at the level of circulating mature cells is inherently problematic. Immunomodulary effects may not be observed for several weeks post insult with a drug or compound resulting in potentially false-negative outcomes.
