Lecture 4: How Drugs are Eliminated (Pharmacokinetics) Flashcards
What are the main categories of Pharmacokinetics?
Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion
Why do the effects of a drug wear off?
Because over time the drug is eliminated from the body
What are the characteristics of a drug that is absorbed faster?
It will reach its peak effect faster, but because it gets into the bloodstream faster it will be eliminated sooner and have a shorter duration of effect
What are the characteristics of a drug that has a larger dose?
It would be absorbed faster and have a higher peak effect and it would have a longer duration of action because it takes longer to be eliminated
What are the characteristics of a drug that is eliminated more quickly from the body?
It would appear to have a smaller peak effect because it being eliminated quicker
What can profile of the amount of drug in our body overtime be controlled by?
By manipulating properties of the drug or the different properties in the body
Why is it important to understand pharmacokinetic principles?
Because they define how often or how much of a drug you should be taking to be at its optimal concentration in the body
Which questions do drug parameters influence?
- How much drug should be taken?
- How often?
- how long will it take me to perceive an effect of the drug?
What are the three considerations for the route of administration of a drug?
- Convenience
- Bioavailability
- Processing
Why is convenience an important consideration for drug administration?
Because it is easier to take a medication orally vs through an injection, IV or other routes
Why is bioavailability an important consideration for drug administration?
Because difference drugs may be absorbed with different efficiency from the gut
Why is Processing an important consideration for drug administration?
Because drugs that are absorbed from the gut first encounter the liver before entering systemic circulation so there is sometimes significant processing and breakdown
Where do drugs that are absorbed in the gut go before reaching the systemic circulation?
They go through hepatic portal circulation and to the liver
Why is the liver of important consideration with drugs?
Because it is a major site of metabolism and strongly influences the bioavailability of drugs
What is First Pass Metaolism?
The amount of a drug that is processed or eliminated its first time through through the liver after it is absorbed in the gut and goes through the circulatory system
What is the inverse of bioavailability?
Extractions ratio
What is Clearance?
The volume of blood that can be cleared of a compound over a certain amount of time
Why would something have a higher clearance?
The more effectively something is removed from the blood by the liver the higher the clearance and the higher the extraction ratio
What drugs have a high extraction ratio?
Drugs that are rapidly processed by the liver
What is the meaning of a low extraction ratio?
Drugs that a poorly processes by the liver (aren’t significantly processed by the liver)
What are the six routes of administration?
- Oral
- Intravenous
- Intramuscular/subcutaneous
- Inhalation
- Sublingual
- Transdermal
What is the rate of adsorption for Oral drugs?
Slow
What can Oral drugs be affected by?
Intake of food
What can the exposure of oral drugs be influenced by?
Breakdown in the gut and processing in the liver
What is the rate of the onset of action of intravenous drugs and why?
They have a very rapid onset because it is delivered directly into the systemic system
Why is intravenous not often used?
Because it is inconvenient and requires expertise
What are the pros to intravenous injections?
- Rapid onset
* There is high control over circulating level by controlling the rate of infusion
What does the rate of absorption of intramuscular injections depend on?
Blood flow to the site
What is a common type of intramuscular injection?
Depot injections for sustained release
What are Depot injections?
Intramuscular injections that slowly dissolve for sustained release
Where is absorption in inhalation administration?
The epithelium in the lungs, and can be very rapid