Drug characterization

A vaginal suppository based on ornidazole, a drug characterized by the activity against bacteria and protozoa, demonstrated the same safety and effectiveness in the treatment of vaginitis as that of a tablet formulation in addition, the slippery and smooth surface of the suppository-facilitated application and the irritation in the vulva-vaginal region was reduced in comparison with that induced by the tablet formulation [33]. 

ADDICTION Physical dependence on a drug characterized by tolerance and withdrawal. 

Evaluation of biotransformation processes in vivo and in vitro is also an essential issue for drug characterization that is addressed in the next section. 

It is also important to distinguish prodrugs from soft drugs [17, 18] defined as biologically active compounds (drugs) characterized by a predictable and fast in vivo metabolism to inactive and nontoxic moieties, after they have achieved their therapeutic role. An example is afforded by the short-acting [5-blockcr esmolol, whose half-life of hydrolysis in human blood at pH 7.4 and 37 °C is 23 min [19]. 

The porphyrin family of compounds are cyclic tetra-pyrolles many of which are intermediates of the heme biosynthetic pathway. The majority of the compounds of interest to the clinical chemist are not in fact porphyrins (with the exception of protoporphyrin) but porphyrinogens in which all four methylene bridges are in the reduced form. The significance of the porphyrins in medicine relates to the class of inherited disorders - the porphyrias -where there is accumulation of the precursors due to an enzyme deficiency in the heme pathway. The clinical presentation of the porphyrias varies from a chronic photosensitivity to severe acute abdominal pain as in acute intermittent porphyria, which may be precipitated by exposure to certain drugs. Characterization of the type of porphyria depends upon the identification of particular patterns of porphyrins in blood, urine, and feces. 

Fig. 5.9. Dendrogram of the relationships between neuroleptic drugs characterized by 12 different biological tests (from Lewi 1976, with permission of Editio Cantor Verlag).

Biomimetic surface/artrficial membrane Lipid bilayers Biosensors (85), drug characterization, diagnosis Worsfold et al. (2006), Kilian et al. (2007b), Cunin et al. (2007), Pace et al. (2012b), Mey et al. (2012)... 

Rembeig, G., and A H. Stead. "Drug Characterization/ Impurity Profiling, with )edal Focus on Methamphetamine Recent Work of the United Natiems International E>rug Control ProgrammeL" United Natkms Office on Drugs and Crime Bulletin on Narcotics, 511999. 

The utility of TLC in metabolic diseases, illicit drug use, toxicology, including mycotoxins, environmental injuiy, and particularly analytical drug characterization, and quantitation, both diagnostically and for regulatory purposes, is well-documented (8,65,66). The further application of TLC to nucleic acids has a significant literature that we document extensively. 

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