Intro to Pharmacokinetics (BASIC)

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 Hey team,


I recently obtained a copy of "Basic Concepts in Pharmacology: A Student's Survival Guide". This is to prepare for my up coming semester as a P1 at my university and to entertain my own curiosity with pharmacology and drugs. Pharmacokinetics is the study of how your body breaks down and removes them from your body. 

To start when a patient takes a drug we want it to be lipid, AKA fat, soluble. We don't want the drug to have a charge or be too polar from different functional groups. The drug will either be in it's protonated or deprotonated form. Depending on the acidity of not only the climate of the body (pH) and the pK of the drug the drug will be in one of the two forms. If the pK of the drug is greater than that of the pH, the drug will stay in its protonated and uncharged form (lipid soluble, probably). If the pK is less than the pH the drug will be de protonated giving an H+ and the weak conjugate base so that it can neutralize the more acidic environment. 


Excretion.

Once the drug enters circulation volume distribution can be measured. Volume distribution is dose (mg) / plasma concentration (mg/ mL). This tells you how much drug is available for tissue distribution. After the drug dose peaks the concentration will drop as the liver metabolizes the drug to be more water soluble by making it more polar. This involves adding functional groups that are polar, usually OH or NH2 which have free electrons to interact with water. From here the drug can jump through the glomerulus and enter the proximal tubule in the kidneys and enter in what will soon be excreted urine.  


Hope you enjoy this very very brief explanation of pharmacokinetics, straight from the dome. 

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