Pharmacokinetics - Metabolism and Excretion Flashcards
What is Excretion ?
The process by which a drug (unchanged) or its metabolite is removed from the body
Where does excretion primarily occur ?
In the kidneys (urine), but can take place in the biliary system (faeces), lungs (expired air), skin (sweat) , hair and breast milk
Excretion of drugs by the kidney is dependent on 3 main mechanisms:
- Glomerular filtration of unbound drug
- Active tubular secretion of drug transporters
- Tubular reabsorption by passive diffusion down the concentration gradient
The rate of drug elimination depends on ?
The balance between filtration, secretion and reabsorption
Excretion =
Filtration + Secretion - Reabsorption
Capillaries in the glomerulus allow drugs with a ?
Molecular weight (MW) <20kD to pass into the filtrate
Large molecules like heparin and drugs that bound to?
Protein (albumin ~68kDa) - like warfarin (98% bound) - cannot be filtered
What does the amount of filtered drug depend on ?
Renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate and degree of drug binding to plasma proteins
What does the glomerular filtration rate vary on ?
It varies between individuals, the normal range is 110-130 ml/min
What happens to ~20% of the blood which enters the glomerulus is ? and what happens to the remaining ~80% ?
~20% of the blood which enters the glomerulus is filtered. The remaining 80% will pass on to the peritubular capillaries and possibly undergo tubular secretion in the proximal tubules
What is Tubular secretion ?
Transfers of molecules from peritubular capillaries to renal tubular lumen
Secretory mechanisms in the tubules are not ? but depend on ?
They are not drug specific. But depend on non-selective carrier systems (transporters):
- Organic cation transporters (OCTs)
- Organic anion transporters (OATs)
- P-glycoprotein (an ABC transporter)
The carriers can be ?
Saturated, usually only occurs in drug interactions, where one drug competitively inhibits the secretion of another
E.g. probenecid competes with penicillin for OATs, reduces extraction ratio and prolongs action of penicillin
Explain Organic cation transporter (OCT) ?
- Can only transport molecules DOWN an electrochemical gradient (passive transport)
- Uniporters (only one substrate)
- Substrates include histamine, morphine, pethidine
Explain Organic anion transporters ?
- Can transport molecules against their gradient (active transport)
- Use energy of Na+ gradient
- Can therefore extract virtually all of a drug from the plasma
- E.g. penicillin and p-aminohippuric acid (PAH) are almost completely extracted
OCT and OAT transporters ?
Transporters in the kidney
Explain Tubular reabsorption?
Only ~1% of the glomerular filtrate actually leaves the body, in the rest (~99%) is reabsorbed into the blood
Tubular reabsorption is the process by which ?
Solutes, drugs, metabolites and water are removed from the tubular fluid
These transport processes are mostly driven by ?
Passive diffusion in the distal tube
Lipid-soluble (hydrophobic) drugs are passively reabsorbed into ?
Plasma down the concentration gradient in the distal tube. They are extensively reabsorbed and poorly excreted
Polar/charged drugs are unable to ?
Be reabsorbed and are voided in urine
Hence metabolism of drugs to make them more ?
Polar increases renal excretion
Many drugs are either weak bases or acids and thus the pH of the filtrate can ?
Greatly influence the extent of tubular re-absorption for many drugs
When urine is alkaline, weak acid drugs will ?
Not be reabsorbed
Due to pH partitioning, acidic drugs are ?
Better excreted if urine is alkaline, and vice versa