Pharmacokinetics
Definition
What the body does to a compound: absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. Half-life, peak concentration and clearance all come out of pharmacokinetic work.
Terms used in this definition
Other entries this definition refers to.
Where this term comes up
Entries whose definition mentions Pharmacokinetics.
What this means for research sourcing
Mechanistic terms like this describe how research compounds behave in vitro. See the mechanism overviews for compounds Volta stocks.
Related Terms in Pharmacology
Pharmacodynamics
What a compound does to the body: the link between concentration at the target and the size of the resulting effect. It is the counterpart to pharmacokinetics and the two are routinely modelled together.
First-Pass Metabolism
The breakdown a swallowed compound undergoes in the gut wall and the liver before it reaches general circulation. It is a principal reason peptide drug development has concentrated on parenteral routes, which bypass the gut.
Enzymatic Degradation
Cleavage of a peptide by proteases in blood and tissue, which cut at sequence-specific points. Designing around it, by substituting a residue, cyclising the chain or capping a terminus, is the central problem in making a natural peptide usable as a drug.
DPP-4 (Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4)
The enzyme that inactivates native GLP-1 and GIP within a couple of minutes of their release by clipping two residues off the N-terminus. Long-acting incretin analogues are engineered to resist it, which is what turns a minutes-long hormone into a weekly one.
Receptor Agonist
A molecule that binds a receptor and switches it on, producing the kind of response the endogenous signal produces. Most peptide drugs are agonists at a receptor their parent hormone already occupies.
Receptor Antagonist
A molecule that occupies a receptor without activating it, so the natural ligand cannot bind. The effect is to suppress a pathway rather than drive it.
Partial Agonist
An agonist that cannot produce the full response however much of it is present, because it activates the receptor less completely than the natural ligand does. Against a full agonist it can behave as a brake.
Dual Agonist
One molecule that activates two receptors. GLP-2 TZ is a GLP-1 and GIP agonist; survodutide combines GLP-1 with glucagon-receptor activity. The pairing is a design decision about which pathways to engage at once.
