Pharmacokinetic Behaviors of Orally Administered Drugs

This chapter introduces the reader to some basic principles of oral pharmacokinetics and provides background knowledge of the pharmacokinetic parameters involved after oral administration. It explains the different physicochemical and physiological factors that affect oral disposition of drugs. Pharmacokinetics (PK) utilizes mathematical models and equations to describe, understand, and predict the rate processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination using concentration–time data obtained by experimentation. A PK model can be described as a mathematical approach to characterize the concentration–time profile of drugs. The chapter provides a comprehensive, rather than exhaustive, appraisal of pharmacokinetic behaviors of orally administered drugs. Pregnant women are susceptible to illnesses and/or pregnancy-induced complications that might require a drug regime. The coingestion of certain fruit juices are known to be associated with either changes in metabolism or transport of drugs, thus impeding or enhancing the extent of drug absorption.