7. Systemic, integrative and mechanistic approaches

New technological advances are increasingly highlighting the complexity of biological mechanisms and the large number of signalling pathways involved in contaminant toxicity. The concepts of systems toxicology (ST) and integrative toxicology (IT) could represent complementary approaches to the study of toxicology at high levels of complexity. The particularity of these new approaches is that they approach biology in a more global and integrative way, in order to observe so-called "emergent properties". Behind TS and TI lies the conviction that, on a given subject, more information and conclusions can be drawn by considering a multitude of data (of various types and sources) than by isolating the targets under study or biomarkers. Despite their complexity, TS and TI models represent an interesting investment and a concrete hope for the development of predictive and mechanistic toxicology....