NROSCI 1030 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Partition Coefficient, Weak Base, Pentobarbital
Document Summary
A drug is an agent affecting a living process. They are given different ways which have to do with the type of function you want them to have. High fat foods will cause it to be absorbed very slowly. Lipophilic likes fat/oil: hydrophilic like water. A lot of the anesthetics tend to be lipophilic and dissolve in body fat rather than water. For the drug to go to out of the body through the urine, they must be in a non-charged form. Putting a weak base in an acidic environment will make it go to a charged form and stay in the body longer. But, if you make the urine less acidic, it will be excreted. In western culture, alcohol is metabolized quicker than in asian cultures where it stays longer in the system. Once the drug is in the body, it must act on the receptor. This receptor principle was devised by langley in 1905.
