WHAT IS PHARMACOKINETICS?
Pharmacokinetics is the branch of pharmacology which looks at what the body does to a drug. It looks at the movement of a drug into the body, through the body and finally out of the body: it covers the
Absorption,
Distribution,
Metabolism,
Excretion (ADME) and the bioavailability of the drug.
The time course of a drug in a body - its pharmacokinetics - depend on the chemical properties of the drug and on patient-related factors. These pharmacokinetic properties can be described using several parameters including the following:
- Half-life
- Bioavailability
- Elimination rate constant
- Absorption rate constant
- Volume of distribution
- Area Under The Curve
- Total Body Clearance
The value of these parameters can be found from graphs plotting the plasma concentration of the drug against time and by using a few equations.