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Pharmacokinetics - Part 1
Pharmacokinetics
Absorption
Bioavailability
Distribution
Pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics - Part 1
Body Compartments
Volume of Distribution
Pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics - Part 1
Key Terms
These are the key terms and concepts covered in this lesson. After you have
learned a term, take a moment to write out your own explanation of the term.
Absorption
Active transport
Bioavailability
Blood-brain barrier
C50
Cmax
Concentration gradient
Diffusion distance
Distribution
Excretion
Pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics - Part 1
Facilitated diffusion
Fat-soluble molecules
Fick’s Law
Half-life (t1/2)
Hydrophilic molecules
Hydrophobic molecules
Interstitial fluid
Intracellular fluid
Ionized
Metabolism
Non-ionized
Nonpolar molecules
Partition
Pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics - Part 1
Passive diffusion
Plasma
Polar molecules
Portal circulation
Systemic circulation
tmax
Transcellular fluid
Water-soluble molecules
Weak acid
Weak base
Pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics - Part 1
Learning Objectives
After you have completed the lesson, go through the learning objectives again.
Are you able to fill in a complete response to each learning objective?
1) Define pharmacokinetics and summarize the main processes that occur as a drug passes through the body.
2) Describe the primary path of absorption and distribution of an orally administered drug in the body.
3) Name the mechanisms by which drugs cross cell membranes and describe how the chemical properties of drugs influence their
absorption across membranes.
5) Recall the phases of distribution and the factors that limit drug availability at its molecular target.
6) Compare and contrast the volume of fluid compartments within the body and predict how the sizes of these compartments
vary with patient characteristics, such as obesity and age.
Pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics - Part 1
7) Recall the high and low ranges for volume of distribution.
8) Calculate the volume of distribution of a drug given its plasma concentration and the dose of drug administered.
Pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics - Part 1
Summary Figures
1) On the first graph below, label the following parameters: Cmax, C50, t1/2, tmax, and AUC.
On the second graph below, put the following labels on the concentration curve
corresponding to the range of time over which each occurs: absorption, distribution,
metabolism, and excretion.
Pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics - Part 1
2) Apply what you have learned so far in this course about routes of administration,
absorption, and distribution to complete the table below. You may not know all of the
answers but try to fill out the table below as best you can. Think about how the route
of administration will vary depending on specific circumstances. Which routes of
administration would have the highest and lowest bioavailability? Which routes are most
likely to be used in an acute care setting, when the patient is not conscious? Which routes
are used to deliver drugs locally, to specific organs or regions of the body?
Route of
Intravenous Intramuscular Oral Transdermal Inhalation
administration
Onset of action
(fast or slow)
Passes through
the liver before
systemic circulation?
(yes or no)
Advantages and
disadvantages
of this route
Pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics - Part 1