Pharmacology 2060A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Warfarin, Sulfotransferase, Malnutrition
8 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
Metabolism is the enzyme mediated alteration of a drugs structure. Metabolism is also referred to as biotransformation. Important in humans to protect us from a number of environmental toxins as well as synthesize essential endogenous molecules. A summary of common exogenous toxins that drug metabolism protects us from are summarized below. Similarly, essential endogenous molecules synthesized by drug metabolizing enzymes are shown. Note that even things like vegetables considered to be healthy would be toxic if we didn"t have enzymes to process them! Drug metabolism can have several different consequences. Increase water solubility of drugs to promote their excretion (lipophilic (cid:0) hydrophilic) Increase drug effectiveness (active (cid:0) more active: activate prodrugs (inactive until metabolized) (prodrug (cid:0) In most clinical situations the concentration of drug is much lower than the metabolic capacity of the body. In these situations, drug metabolism displays 1st order kinetics.
