Drug Metabolism Flashcards
What is drug metabolism
A biochemical modification of pharmaceutical substances by living organisms usually through specialized enzymatic activity
Why is metabolism an essential pharmacokinetic process
It limits the life of a substance in the body, by rendering lipid soluble and non-polar compounds to water soluble and polar compounds so that they can be excreted
What happens to lipid soluble substances
They are passively reabsorbed from renal or extra renal excretory sites back into the blood
What are important sites in drug metabolism
Liver
Lining of gut
Kidneys
Lungs
What happens to most drugs before excretion
They are metabolised
What is the purpose of drug metabolism
To increase water solubility and so aid excretion
Or to deactivate compounds (which may involve a number of steps)
What happens to prodrugs following metabolism
They are activated
What happens to some drugs following metabolism
They form active metabolites
Give examples of prodrugs
Codeine
Enalapril
Simvastatin
Sacubitril
What are the effects of drug metabolism
The loss of pharmacological activity
A decrease in activity, with metabolites that show some activity
Increase in activity, more active metabolites (activation of a prodrug)
Production of toxic metabolites
What can the production of toxic metabolites in drug metabolism cause
Direct toxicity
Carcinogenesis
Teratogenesis
What can metabolising enzymes be divided into
Families and sub-families
What type of specificity do metabolising enzymes have
Wide substrate specificity
Individual drugs can be metabolised by more than one
Where is enzyme activity control regulated
At several levels
How are some enzymes expressed
Constitutively
Some are expressed or induced in the presence of a particular substrate
How many phases are there in enzyme metabolism
2
Phase 1
Phase 2
What occurs in phase 1
Oxidation, reduction and hydrolysis reactions
It increases the polarity of the compound and provides an active site for Phase 2 metabolism
What enzymes super family are important metabolising enzymes
Cytochrome P-450 enzymes
How is drug specificity determined
By the isoform of the cytochrome P-450
Specificity tends to be relative rather than absolute
What are the three most important families of the cytochrome P-450 superfamily that have been identified as important in oxidative drug metabolism
CYP1: isoform CYP1A2
CYP2: isoform CYP2D6
CYP3: isoform CYP3A4
What is the drug substrate for CYP1: isoform CYP1A2
Theophylline
What is the drug substrate for CYP2: isoform CYP2D6
Codeine
What is the drug substrate for CYP3: isoform CYP3A4
Cyclosporine
What is CYP3A4
The major constitutive enzyme in human liver and contributes to the metabolism of a wide range of drugs
Where can CYP3A4 be found
Liver
Gut
What is CYP3A4 also responsible for
The pre-sysytemic metabolism of several drugs