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Drug clearance & Half Life & Dose

Drug Clearance

It refers to the ratio of rate of drug elimination to the concentration of drug in biological fluid(C). 

                     CL = rate of elimination / C

Rate of elimination


  • For most of the drugs, elimination is not saturable & rate of drug elimination is directly proportional to concentration. 

                   Rate of elimination = CL x C


==> The difference between drug clearance and drug elimination is that :

    • Clearance is Volume of blood cleared of drug per unit time and Elimination is amount of drug cleared from blood per unit time. 


Total Body Clearance


  • The total body systemic clearance , CLtotal is the sum of all clearances from drug metabolising and drug eliminating organs. 

                                       OR

  • Dividing the rate of elimination at each organ by concentration of drug presented to it yeilds respective clearance at that organ and sum of these is total body clearance. 

              CLx = rate of elimination x / C
                                                  (i.e x is kidney, liver etc)

 > The kidney is often the major organ of excreation. The Liver also contributes to drug clearance through drug metabolism and excreation into the Bile. 


  CL

  • CL hepatic and CL renal are the most important. 


Orders of Elimination


(1)


    • In this constant amount of drug is eliminated from body per unit time. 

  •In Graph we can see constant decrease in Linear fashion. 


    • In this rate of elimination is independent of plasma concentration or amount in the body. 

    • Occurs at higher doses due to saturation of elimination mechanisms. 

    • No fixed half life because higher the dose more the time it would take to clear drug from plasma. 

Example : Ethanol, phenytoin, Salicylates etc. 


(2)

    • In this constant fraction ( or percentage of total drug) is eliminated per unit time.

 • In Graph we can see constant decrease exponentially with time. 


    • In this rate if elimination is directly proportional to plasma level (or amount). 

    • Most if the drugs follow first order. 

    • In this concentration of such drugs in blood will Dec by 50% for every half life. 

 For example : If half life is 2 hours then : 

                    2 hr   =>  4 hr     =>  6 hr       =>  8 hr
100mg  =>  50mg =>  25mg  =>  12.5mg =>  6.2mg


Half Life

   • It is time required to eliminate half of the drugs either from plasma or body. It is expressed as : 

                      T1/2 = 0.693 x Vd / CL

Example : 
If omeperazole (Risek)  clearance is 150 ml / min
 Volume of distribution is 50 L
Then : 
     T1/2 = 0.693 x (50 / 0.15) = 231 min half life. 


Factors affecting Half-life


• Decrease renal plasma flow, example in shock, hemorrhage, and cardiac failure. 

 • Addition of a second drug that displaces first from albumin, increasing its Vd. 

 • Decrease extraction ratio example : renal disease

 • Decrease metabolism example : inhibition of P450 system.

 


Steady State Concentration (CSS)

  • A steady state plasma concentration of drug occurs when the rate of drug elimination is equal to the rate of drug administration. 

It is expressed as :     CSS = Ro / CL total

   > Ro = rate infusion. 

 • Time to reach the steady state only depends on

 • 95% of steady state is acheived after 4-5  T


DOSE


 

Types of dosages :


 (a) Fixed Dose :


 (b)

  (c)

  (d)
  Example : drugs given in arrthymias. 

  Loading dose = desired plasma concentration x Vd

   (e)

Maintenance dose = desired plasma concentration x CL total

BIOASSAY

 • The estimation of concentration or potency of the substance by measurement of biologic response to that product. 

Uses
  • Determination of pharmacological activity of new drugs. 
  • To keasure the drug toxicity and unwanted effects. 
  • To measure concentration of known substances. 


  

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