Bio pharmacy Practice
Fourth stage, 1st semester
2023-2024
Lab no.5
Estimation of Area Under
The Curve (AUC) from
Plasma Data
Lecturer Evan Noori Facheraldeen
[Link]. Pharmacy Sciences
Pharmacokinetic of Drugs
o Some Pharmacokinetic Parameters that could be Estimated
➢ Absorption : Bioavailability (Cmax, tmax, AUC), Absorption rate
constant (Ka)
➢ Distribution: Volume of distribution, Distribution rate constant
➢ Elimination: Clearance, Half-life, Elimination rate constant (Kel), Km
1. Primary parameters : clearance (Cl) ,volume of distribution (Vd) .
2. Secondary parameters : half life (t1/2), bioavailability (F) .
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Area Under Curve
➢ The area under the plasma drug
concentration-time curve (AUC)
reflects the actual body exposure
to drug after administration of a
dose of the drug and is expressed
in mg.h/L.
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Area Under Curve
➢ This area under the curve is dependent on the rate of elimination of the
drug from the body and the dose administered.
➢ The total amount of drug eliminated by the body may be assessed by
adding up or integrating the amounts eliminated in each time interval,
from time zero (time of the administration of the drug) to infinite time.
This total amount corresponds to the fraction of the dose administered
that reaches the systemic circulation. 5
Area Under Curve
➢ The AUC is directly proportional to the dose when the drug follows
linear kinetics.
➢ The AUC is inversely proportional to the clearance of the drug. That is,
the higher the clearance, the less time the drug spends in the systemic
circulation and the faster the decline in the plasma drug concentration.
Therefore :
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Importance of Area Under Curve
o Toxicology
To estimate body exposure to specific toxin
o Biopharmaceutical
To compare between different drugs.
o Pharmacokinetic Parameter
To estimate pharmacokinetic parameter as (Vd , t1/2 , Cl) etc...
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Estimation of AUC
o Area under plasma curve could be estimated by two main methods:
1- Trapezoid method.
2- Residual method.
✓ In Trapezoid method, the total area under the drug level – versus
time curve is obtained by summation of each individual area between
two consecutive time intervals using the trapezoidal rule.
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Method of Trapezoid
✓ This numerical method of obtaining the AUC is fairly accurate if
sufficient data points are available.
✓ As the number of data points increases, the trapezoidal method of
approximating the area becomes more accurate. The trapezoidal rule
assumes a linear or straight-line function between data points. If the
data points are spaced widely, then the normal curvature of the line
will cause a greater error in the area estimate.
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Method of Trapezoid
✓ For intravenous administer doses:
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Method of Trapezoid
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Method of Trapezoid
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Method of Trapezoid
✓ For orally administer doses:
Extrapolated area
Residual Area
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Method of Trapezoid
✓ For orally administer doses:
Since Cp0=o, t0=0, AUC1 or called AUC extrapolated will be
AUC total = AUC ext. + ∑ AUCt2—tn-1 + AUC resid.
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Method of Residual
✓ I.V residual for one compartment model, regard the body as one
compartment of the distribution, we measure AUC from t0 → t∞ .
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Method of Residual
✓ I.V residual for two compartment model, regard the body as a 2
compartment where the drug is firstly distributed to the first
compartment and highly perfuse organs, then to other organs of low
perfusion (second compartment), this mean that we have two phases ,
distribution & elimination phase .
✓ Accordingly, AUC total = AUC distribution + AUC elimination.
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Method of Residual
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Method of Residual
✓ residual method for oral administered doses: in this route there
is absorption phase and excretion phase
AUC total = AUC elimination -AUC absorption
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Method of Residual
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Thanks for Your
Attention
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