pharmacokinetics and drug interactions Flashcards
What is pharmacokinetics?
what the body does to the drug
(interpreting data on changing concentrations or amounts of drug and its metabolites in blood, plasma, urine and other body tissues and fluids)
How does a drug reach the systemic circulation?
Absorption
What is the name of the process by which a drug moves between the systemic circulation and tissues?
Distribution
What is the name of the process by which a drug it metabolised or excreted from the body?
Elimination
What are pharmacodynamics?
the effect of drugs and their mechanism of action
(balance between therapeutic effect and toxicity)
Which drugs are the worst absorbed?
strong acids or bases
(they are mostly ionised = cannot cross membranes!)
Why are pharmacokinetics important (4)?
- important to know if a drug is going to be absorbed if given by a particular route (e.g. orally)
- need to know the plasma concentration as a function of time (its dynamic)
- to know where the drug goes once inside the body (distribution) -> determines if histamine is drowsy or non drowsy
- drug metabolites (are they active or toxic)
Name 3 different enteral (via GI tract) routes of drug administration:
- Oral
- Sublingual
- Rectal
Name 7 different parenteral (not via GI tract) routes of drug administration:
- Intravenous
- Intramuscular
- Subcutaneous
- Inhalation
- Epidural
- Topical
- Patches
What is bioavailability a measure of?
How well a drug gets into the systemic blood circulation
An oral bioavailability (f) value of 1 means how much of the drug gets into the systemic circulation?
100%
An oral bioavailability (f) value of 0 means how much of the drug gets into the systemic circulation?
0%
Can a drug still be used if it has poor bioavailability?
Why/ why not?
Yes
Some will still get into the systemic blood circulation but the rest is lost (excreted)
-> n.b. not very practical to use a drug with v. low bioavailiability
What is an alternative way of measuring bioavailability?
Comparing plasma concentration of drug (Cp) following oral and IV administration, comparing the area under the curves gives a direct experimental measure of bioavailiability
n. b.if area under curves is very similar then the bioavailability is close to 1
n. b. to calculate oral bioavailiability… F = area under curve oral/ area under curve IV
Which 3 factors affect the oral bioabailiability of a drug?
- poor absorption from gut
- breakdown of drug in gut
- first pass effect
What is the first pass effect?
- any drug first absorbed in stomach/ small intestine -> portal circulation -> drug must first pass through liver before it gets into the circulation
- liver = bag of enzymes = metabolise drug to different extents in liver = loss of some of the drug
Where are most drugs absorbed?
The small intestine due to its huge surface area
Through which method do drugs usually cross membranes (e.g. GI mucosa) to be absorbed?
Passive diffusion
Some drugs are absorbed by alternative routes… give two examples and state how these are absorbed…
L-dopa = transporter in membrane
Iron = transporter
List the 4 different factors that affect drug absorption at a membrane:
- pKa of drug (lipid solubility)
- pH at absorbing surface (lipid solubility)
- GI motility/ food (decreased rate of gastric emptying e.g. opioids = decreased rate of absorption)
- Drug preparation (e.g. enteric coated aspirin = takes a while to break down = stomach wall not exposed)
Which factor contributes directly to lipid solubility?
pKa of a drug pH at absorbing surface = changes depending on body compartments = ion trapping
What is the pKa of a drug?
the pH at which the drug is 50% ionised
What is the name of the equation relating pH, pKa and ration of ionised to unionised drug?
The henderson hasselbalch equation
What two things does the degree of distribution of a drug (amount in blood or tissues) depend on?
- Lipid solubility (more likely to get into brain if lipid soluble)
- plasma protein binding
What does the rate of drug distribution often depend on?
Rate of blood flow to different tissues (particularly for lipid soluble drugs)= especially high to brain!
What is the total body water volume in the average adult?
40L
What is the plasma water volume in the average adult?
3L
What is the blood volume in the average adult?
6L
What is the extracellular water volume in the average adult?
14L
What causes a person to wake up after general anaesthetic is no longer administered via IV?
The brain concentration decreases as the drug redistributes out of the brain back into the blood
What occurs to stop drugs having an effect?
Redistribution into other tissues e.g. brain to fat
How do you measure drug distribution?
Use the apparent volume of distribution
(Vd) = volume of water in which a drug would have to be distributed to give its plasma concentration
Why is this only the apparent volume of distribution?
The value of Vd may exceed total body water if distributes heavily in tissues (exacerbated by binding fate etc)
What is volume of distribution used for (3)?
- gives an approx. indication of where the drug goes in the body
- partly determines the half life of a drug
- can be used on pharmacokinetic calculations (e.g. clearance)
What is plasma drug binding important for?
Why?
Distribution
Because drugs that are bound to plasma proteins cannot leave the blood
- e.g. warafin binds strongly to plasma proteins = why it has such a low tissue distribution (probably only limited clinical significance)
What is excretion?
The movement of drug or its metabolites from the inside to the outside of the body
What is metabolism?
A chemical change in the drugs structure (does not include ionisation)
What is elimination?
removal of the drug from the body (excretion + metabolism)
What is t0.5?
the half life of drug in plasma
(the time it takes for the Cp = plasma concentration, to fall to half of its initial value = when you start measuring… not always t=0)
Is t0.5 high or low when a drug is eliminated quickly?
Low
How long do pharmacological effects last?
Varies
- can be much longer than plasma concentration (e.g. metabolite of aspirin = salicylic acid = still has pharmacological properties)!
What is clearance?
It is equal to the amount of plasma which is cleared of its drug content per unit time
What are the units of clearance?
ml/min or L/h
Why is it more useful to measure clearance than rate of elimination?
Clearance stays fairly constant
Rate of elimination of most drugs varies with [plasma] -> more drug = increased rate of elimination