Pharmacokinetics
Pharmacokinetics involves these four processes, often abbreviated as ADME.
What are Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Elimination?
This term defines the biggest effect a drug can produce.
What is maximal efficacy?
This is the plasma drug level below which no therapeutic effects will occur.
What is the minimum effective concentration (MEC)?
This is the time required for the amount of drug in the body to decrease by 50%.
What is half-life?
Drugs that are metabolized by this enzyme system in the liver are called substrates.
What is the P450 enzyme system?
To cross membranes, most drugs must dissolve into this part of the cell membrane.
What is the lipid bilayer?
This term describes a drug that produces its effect at a low dose.
What is potency?
This occurs when plasma drug levels climb too high, leading to harmful effects.
What is toxicity?
A drug with this characteristic will leave the body quickly, requiring more frequent dosing.
What is a short half-life?
Drugs that increase the rate of drug metabolism are known as this.
What are inducers?
This protein, found in organs like the liver and brain, transports drugs out of cells.
What is P-glycoprotein?
A receptor is any functional macromolecule in a cell to which a drug binds to do these two things.
What are mimic or block the action of the body’s regulatory molecules?
This is the range of plasma drug levels between the minimum effective concentration and the toxic concentration.
What is the therapeutic range?
A patient has 50 mg of morphine in their body, and 25 mg is lost after 3 hours. This is the half-life of morphine.
What is 3 hours?
This process involves the kidneys filtering drugs out of the blood to be excreted in the urine.
What is glomerular filtration?
This term refers to the rapid inactivation of some oral drugs as they pass through the liver.
What is the first-pass effect?
This is the molecular mechanism by which drugs produce biochemical and physiological effects.
What is pharmacodynamics?
This drug, used to treat bipolar disorder, has a narrow therapeutic range, making it difficult to administer safely.
What is lithium?
The time it takes to reach this steady state of drug levels in the body is typically equivalent to 4 half-lives.
What is plateau?
Highly lipid-soluble drugs must be converted to this type of form before they can be excreted by the kidneys.
What is a polar form?
These types of drugs cannot be excreted by the kidneys until the liver converts them into a more polar form.
What are lipid-soluble drugs?
These molecules make selective drug action possible by allowing certain drugs to bind and produce effects.
What are receptors?
Clinicians use this measurement to regulate drug response, as it correlates with therapeutic and toxic effects.
What are plasma drug levels?
For drugs with a long half-life, the dosing interval can be longer without losing this.
What is therapeutic effect?
These drugs act on the liver to decrease the rate of drug metabolism, leading to increased drug levels.
What are inhibitors?