Four potential processes exist for a chemical interacting with an animal: absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME). Absorption describes the entrance of the chemical into the body, and can occur through the air, water, food, or soil. Once a chemical is inside a body, it can be distributed to other areas of the body through diffusion or other biological processes. At this point, the chemical may undergo metabolism and be biotransformed into other chemicals (metabolites). These metabolites can be less or more toxic than the parent compound. After this potential biotransformation occurs, the metabolites may leave the body, be transformed into other compounds, or continue to be stored in the body compartments.
A well designed toxicokinetic study may involve several different strategies and depends on the scientific question to be answered.  Controlled acute and repeated toxicokinetic animal studies are useful to identify a chemical's biological persistence, tissue and whole body half-life, and its potential to bioaccumulate. Toxicokinetic profiles can change with increasing exposure duration or dose. Real world environmental exposures generally occur as low level mixtures, such as from air, water, food, or tobacco products. Mixture effects may differ from individual chemical toxicokinetic profiles because of chemical interactions, synergistic, or competitive processes. For other reasons, it is equally important to characterize the toxicokinetics of individual chemicals constituents found in mixtures as information on behavior or fate of the individual chemical can help explain environmental, human, and wildlife biomonitoring studies.