Essays on Drug Metabolism

Drug metabolism is the enzymatic break down of drugs-a process that takes place in the liver. While drug metabolism can take place at the cellular level, the liver is the major site for this process due to its size-translating to a big supply of enzymes. Drug metabolism is classified as one of the liver’s processes to detoxify the body or get rid of foreign compounds (Law et al., 2014). When the drug reaches the target site and finished working, the remaining amounts may accumulate in the body to levels that may be poisonous or toxic. Drug components are ...

Drugs can have many differing affects on people, whether their consumption leads to a positive or adverse response. All of this depends on the levels of enzymes in the body and how the variations of expression lead to these possible outcomes. The major theme of the two sources on this topic relate to the specific enzyme, CYP3A. CYP3A is a subfamily of cytochrome P450 enzymes, which serve to catalyze the addition of oxygen into molecules. Their ultimate role serves two spectrums: to convert foreign substances into less toxic products that can be eliminated from the body, or to convert ...

This is a handout that highlights the effects of Polypharmacy in the elderly and how to reduce the related financial issues that might be associated. Polypharmacy is an administration of multiple medications at the same to treat different conditions. In most situations, those multiple descriptions are done inappropriately. That problem that usually results from Polypharmacy is that of adverse drug reactions or adverse drug interaction. Financial problems can also result from too much drug use.

Important keys to handling Polypharmacy risks are information, instruction and organization.

Information (In such situations, patients needs to) - Keep accurate list of all medicationsthis must be in terms of dosage, generic and brand names, ...

Section 1. Renal Excretion of Drugs and their Metabolites

Determine whether your drug is: a) Primarily excreted unchanged (as the parent drug) in the urine (renally cleared) b) Excreted in the urine principally as metabolites (metabolised; hepatically cleared)

Salbutamol is cleared through the urinary system, metabolizing through the inactive 4’-O-sulphate (phenolic sulphate). Within the urine (with a minor extraction method being faeces), both the salbutamol and the metabolite sulphate are excreted. In studies, urinary excretion of salbutamol has resulted in around 64% of a dose being excreted as unchanged salbutamol, with about 12% excreted as the sulphate conjugate (Spina, 2003).

Section 2. Drug Metabolism

For your drug: a) discuss its metabolism noting the ...

Pharmacogenomics alternatively referred to as pharmacogenetics in medical literature is a component of personalized medicine. It refers to the study of genetic polymorphisms that in one way or another influence individual response to drugs. Clinical observations on the effects of genetic polymorphism on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs were first documented back in the 1950s. Scientific knowledge on genetic variations is therefore the critical foundation on which pharamacogenomics is based. In specific, the knowledge of how variations in the genes responsible for encoding enzymes and proteins are the main pillars of pharamacogenetics (Belle, 2008). Enzymes play a vital role in ...