Introduction To Pharmacokinetics
Steady State, Models And Other Terminology
ZERO ORDER ELIMINATION / NONLINEAR ELIMINATION
In zero order elimination, the rate of elimination of a drug is constant: a particular quantity of drug can be eliminated over a specified time - for example 5 mg every minute. (Show example).Even if you increase the drug plasma concentration, the amount of drug that can be eliminated in the specified time remains the same. The amount of drug eliminated is not proportional to the drug plasma concentration - hence zero order elimination.
When you plot a graph of drug plasma concentration against time, you obtain a linear graph - see across.
Nonlinear Elimination / Michaelis-Menten Kinetics
