Pharmacokinetics - ADME

ADME

Pharmacokinetics is divided into several areas including the extent and rate of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. This is commonly referred to as the ADME scheme:

• Absorption - the process of a substance entering the blood circulation.
• Distribution - the dispersion or dissemination of substances throughout the fluids and tissues of the body.
• Metabolism (or Biotransformation) - the irreversible transformation of parent compounds into daughter metabolites.
• Excretion - the removal of the substances from the body. In rare cases, some drugs irreversibly accumulate in body tissue.

Elimination is the result of metabolism and excretion.

Pharmacokinetics describes how the body affects a specific drug after administration. Pharmacokinetic properties of drugs may be affected by elements such as the site of administration and the dose of administered drug. These may affect the absorption rate.

A fifth process, Liberation has been highlighted as playing an important role in pharmacokinetics:

• Liberation - the process of release of drug from the formulation.

Hence LADME may sometimes be used in place of ADME in reference to the core aspects of pharmacokinetics.