What is pharmacokinetics?

In drug development, various parameters need to be established in preclinical trials before the drug is approved for preliminary testing in human subjects. Pharmacokinetics is an area of research that helps scientists understand how molecules behave in the body.

Overview of Pharmacokinetics

Pharmacokinetics, sometimes referred to as PK (Pharmacokinetic), is a branch of pharmacology that is specifically used to determine the drugs administered to living organisms. Drugs, food additives, pesticides and cosmetics and other chemical heterologous substances need to be investigated and studied in detail through PK research.

However, it is not just the way the drug molecule acts in the organism that determines the process from initial administration to complete elimination. Due to a variety of factors, the organism itself will have an effect on the introduced chemical substances. Compared with how molecules affect organisms, pharmacokinetics is the study of how organisms affect drugs.

Pharmacodynamics (pharmacodynamiacs, PD) is the study of how molecules affect living organisms. Both PK and PD are combined in the PK/PD model, which affects the dose, benefit and adverse effects of the given drug. There are several different pharmacokinetic models used to try to understand the behavior and effects of molecules in organisms.

Factors and indicators

Common indicators measured by the PK method include dose, dosing interval, bioavailability, volume of distribution, concentration, absorption half-life, elimination rate constant, and infusion rate. Many factors affect these indicators, including the role of enzymes in material metabolism and genetic makeup, gender and age.

For example, the half-life of certain drugs may be longer in the elderly. The physiological changes that occur with aging affect many aspects of pharmacokinetics. Other factors are related to individual physiology, such as kidney failure and obesity.

Medication management must be based on the needs of each patient, which may delay the best response or cause adverse reactions. The principle of pharmacokinetics can help doctors adjust the dosage more accurately and quickly.

Why pharmacokinetics are important for preclinical trials

Pharmacokinetics who understand the molecule will inform its applicability as a drug target. Without this knowledge, drugs developed containing this substance may cause death or adverse side effects. It may cause cancer or genetic toxicity. This is obviously harmful and should be avoided.

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics together provide accurate data for pre-clinical trials, and then provide a basis for related clinical trials. Therefore, the initial dose can be accurately measured, and potential side effects can be controlled. Before human trials can be conducted, animal models are always used.

Some of the most important pharmacokinetic principles that must be understood in preclinical testing are distribution, absorption, metabolism, and excretion. Before conducting human clinical trials, it is necessary to report and analyze in vitro biochemical data related to drug reactions.

If the pharmacokinetic model is correctly implemented and analyzed, it can help ensure that the drug will not fail during the trial for reasons that may have been predicted and avoided. This is advantageous in some ways. Not only must human health be considered, but it also has a financial impact on the experiment.

Pharmacokinetic models have been used as a standard for decades and provide information for most clinical trials by providing accurate data on the predicted behavior of target drugs and molecules. In addition to drug discovery, pharmacokinetic models can also provide references for many other studies.

The mystery of drug addiction: why pharmacokinetic research is important

Consumption of narcotic drugs can cause some people to become addicted. Scientists engaged in addiction research pay special attention to how casual or casual use of drugs can cause problematic use patterns that indicate addiction.

In most preclinical studies, self-management is the main model of these models. However, this method has a major problem. Self-management always requires taking high doses of drugs, and in real life, drug use will be more intermittent.

For example, molecular transient pharmacokinetic factor models are important in elucidating why intermittent consumption contributes to the severity of cocaine addiction. Traditional self-management methods may provide inaccurate data. A study published in Psychopharmacology in 2019 used pharmacokinetic principles to explore this problem in cocaine addiction.

The results of the research led by Alex B. Kawa found that the use of cocaine has a profound impact on time. It was found that intermittent use of the drug was more effective in producing addictive behaviors. Second, self-management of intermittent and long-term visits influences motivational behavior in different ways by changing the brain in different ways.

The team made a recommendation based on pharmacokinetic principles that intermittent self-management procedures may be more effective in preclinical trials that seek to provide data on addiction patterns.

To sum up

Pharmacokinetics is an important field of research, which provides important data on the behavior of molecules in organisms. By applying the principles of pharmacokinetics to preclinical trials, scientists can design safer and more accurate clinical trials.