Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Bioavailability

 

Bioavailability

·         Drugs are absorbed from the site of administration into the systemic circulation.

·         In simple words, the fraction of drug that reaches systemic circulation in unchanged form, from the site of administration is the bioavailability. It not only indicates the rate of absorption but also the extent of absorption.

·         In intravenous route, all of the drug directly enters into systemic circulation. Therefore, the bioavailability is 100%

·         Example-  1000 mg of Drug A is given by oral route. Out of 1000 mg, 800 mg is absorbed from the gut. 200 mg undergoes Hepatic First pass metabolism. So the amount of drug that reaches systemic circulation is 800-200= 600 mg. So bioavailability is (600/1000)x 100= 60 %.

·         In pharmacokinetic, bioavailability of an orally administered drug is determined using the plasma-concentration time curve (see the graph below)






No comments:

Post a Comment

Lidocaine and phenytoin- both are sodium channel blockers. Lidocaine is a local anaesthetic and an anti-arrhythmic. Phenytoin is an anticonvulsant. What explains their differential action? Is it because of their difference in pharmacokinetics.

 Drugs, more than often, have multiple actions. The ability of drugs to interact with different targets and sometimes same target in differe...