pharmacology of the liver Flashcards
where does the majority of absorption occur
SI because of the larger SA
what does a free drug do in the plasma?
binds to proteins eg. 99% of warfarin is bound to albumin
—> only free or unbound drug can have an effect
what leads to drug displacement in liver disease?
decreased plasma albumin and increased bilirubin (bilirubin normally conjugated in liver for excretion in bile - liver unable to do this)
lead to more free drug
how does having more free drug influence the volume of distribution ?
increases the Vd
what is the volume distribution?
represents the fluid volume that would be required to contain the total amount of absorbed drug in the body at a uniform conc equivalent to that in the plasma at steady state
— relates the amount of drug in the body to the blood conc
— a theoretical volume
bigger volume of distribution = more widely distributed the drug is
what does drug removal include?
metabolism and excretion
what happens to lipophilic drugs?
they re-circulate
blood filtered by glomerulus in kidneys, and any lipid soluble drugs/small enough drugs enter nephron and then get reabsorbed across nephron into peritubular capillaries and get re-circulated in blood
what happens to water soluble drugs in elimination?
remain in the contents of the nephron and then pass through to the collecting duct and the bladder for excretion
what is a lipid-soluble drug metabolised to?
water soluble metabolite which can be excreted
what is drug metabolism?
the enzyme-mediated conversion of a lipid-soluble compound into a more water-soluble one
where is drug metabolism carried out?
- mainly in liver — hepatocytes - smooth endoplasmic reticulum (and cytosol and mitochondria)
- kidney
- lung
- GIT
- brain eg. BBB
- plasma eg. esterases
- skin
what are some of the most important drug metabolising enzymes?
cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes (in liver, kidney, lung, GIT)
phase 1 vs phase 2 metabolising reactions
usually occur sequentially
- phase 1 : drug —> metabolite : oxidation , hydrolysis, hydroxylation, dealkylation, deamination
- phase 2 : metabolite —> conjugate : glucuronidation, sulphation, amino acids, glutathione, fatty acids
describe aspirin phase 1 and phase 2 reactions
aspirin —> salicylic acid —> glucuronide
what is a functionalisation reaction?
- part of phase 1
- produce/uncover chemically reactive functional groups
- slight tweaking of structure
- add in chemical groups eg. OH, NH3, SH, COOH
give examples of oxidation reactions in phase 1
- alcohol dehydrogenase
- MAO
- CYP450
how many CYP genes are there?
57 — diided into 18 families. most important are CYP1-3
descirbe phase 2 reactions - what type of reaction and describe the products
- conjugation reactions
- products generally : water-soluble and easily excreted, increased molecular weight, have less of an affinity to their receptor (as they are too big)
describe amino acid reactions in phase 2 and how they are affected when the hepatocytes are damaged
glycine and glutamine are important amino acids in this process
damage to hepatocytes —> declining availability of these amino acids - harder to conjugate the drug metabolites to the amino acids - slows down metabolism
what is glucuronyl transferase used for?
glucuronide reactions in the liver to form a drug-glucuronide combination
describe enterophatic drug circulation
- drug-glucuronide combination formed in liver via glucuronide reactions
- this combination can then be excreted in bile and into the GI tract
- bacteria in the GIT produce B-glucuronidase which will cleave off the glucuronide from the drug to release the active drug again
- drug absorbed across GIT again and back into the blood to be taken back to the liver again