PBPK modeling

Guidance for the Preparation of Toxicological Profiles. ATSDR, US Public Health Service. 1993. 

Battelle. Subchronic toxicity study Naphthalene (C52904), Fischer 344 rats. Report to US Department of Health and Human Services, National Toxicology Program, Research Triangle Park, NC, by Battelle Columbus Laboratories, Columbus, OH, 1980. 

Borton, H. A., M. E. Anderson, and H. J. Clewell. Harmonization Developing consistent guidelines for applying mode of action and dosimetry information for applying mode of action and dosimetry information to cancer and noncancer risk assessment. Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess. 4 75-115, 1998. 

Clewell, H. J., and M. E. Andersen. Use of physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling to investigate individual versus population risk. Toxicol. 111(1-3) 315-329, 1996. 

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Conceptual Representation of a Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Model for a Hypothetical Chemical Substance... 

The structure and mathematical expressions used in PBPK models significantly simplify the true complexities of biological systems. If the uptake and disposition of the chemical substance(s) is adequately described, however, this simplification is desirable because data are often unavailable for many biological processes. A simplified scheme reduces the magnitude of cumulative uncertainty. The adequacy of the model is, therefore, of great importance, and model validation is essential to the use of PBPK models in risk assessment. 

PBPK models improve the pharmacokinetic extrapolations used in risk assessments that identify the maximal (i.e., the safe) levels for human exposure to chemical substances (Andersen and Krishnan 1994). PBPK models provide a scientifically sound means to predict the target tissue dose of chemicals in humans who are exposed to environmental levels (for example, levels that might occur at hazardous waste sites) based on the results of studies where doses were higher or were administered in different species. Figure 3-4 shows a conceptualized representation of a PBPK model. 

Note This is a conceptual representation of a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for a hypothetical chemical substance. The chemical substance is shown to be absorbed via the skin, by inhalation, or by ingestion, metabolized in the liver, and excreted in the urine or by exhalation. 

No PBPK models were identified for methyl parathion. 

Physiologically Based Phamiacokinetic (PBPK) Model—Comprised of a series of compartments representing organs or tissue groups with realistic weights and blood flows. These models require a variety of physiological information tissue volumes, blood flow rates to tissues, cardiac output, alveolar ventilation rates and, possibly membrane permeabilities. The models also utilize biochemical information such as air/blood partition coefficients, and metabolic parameters. PBPK models are also called biologically based tissue dosimetry models. 

PBPK models results in more meaningful extrapolations than those generated with the more conventional use of uncertainty factors. 

If PBPK models for endosulfan exist, the overall results and individual models are discussed in this section in terms of their use in risk assessment, tissue dosimetry, and dose, route, and species extrapolations. 

No PBPK modeling studies were located for endosulfan. 

No data were located concerning whether pharmacokinetics of endosulfan in children are different from adults. There are no adequate data to determine whether endosulfan or its metabolites can cross the placenta. Studies in animals addressing these issues would provide valuable information. Although endosulfan has been detected in human milk (Lutter et al. 1998), studies in animals showed very little accumulation of endosulfan residues in breast milk (Gorbach et al. 1968 Indraningsih et al. 1993), which is consistent with the rapid elimination of endosulfan from tissues and subsequent excretion via feces and urine. There are no PBPK models for endosulfan in either adults or children. There is no information to evaluate whether absorption, distribution, metabolism, or excretion of endosulfan in children is different than in adults. 

Notice Approaches for the Application of Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Models and Supporting Data in Risk Assessment E-Docket ID No. ORD-2005-0022. Fed Reg July 28, 2005 70 (144) 43692-43693. 

What are called physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) and pharmacodynamic (PBPD) models are more mechanistically complex and often include more compartments, more parameters, and more detailed expressions of rates and fluxes and contain more mechanistic representation. This type of model is reviewed in more detail in Section 22.5. Here, we merely classify such models and note several characteristics. PBPK models have more parameters, are more mechanistic, can exploit a wider range of data, often represent the whole body, and can be used both to describe and interpolate as well as to predict and extrapolate. Complexity of such models ranges from moderate to high. They typically contain 10 or more compartments, and can range to hundreds. The increase in the number of flux relationships between compartments and the related parameters is often more than proportional to compartment count. 

In PBPK models tissue blood perfusion and tissue composition can be characterized independently of the drug thus such a model can be created once and reused for many different drugs. Furthermore, because physical laws (mass conservation, diffusion, or facilitated transport mechanisms) are incor-... 

Bois FY. Statistical analysis of Clewell et al. PBPK model of trichloroethylene kinetics. Environ Health Perspect 2000 May 108 Suppl 2 307-16. 

Levels of Significant Exposure to Trichloroethylene - Inhalation 2-2 Levels of Significant Exposure to Trichloroethylene - Oral 2-3 Parameters Used in Two Human PBPK Models 2-4 Genotoxicity of Trichloroethylene/n Vivo... 

The overall results and individual PBPK models for trichloroethylene are discussed in this section in terms of their use in risk assessment, tissue dosimetry, and dose, route, and species extrapolations. Several PBPK models have been developed for inhaled trichloroethylene. In an early model by Fernandez et al. (1977), the human body was divided into three major compartments or tissue groups the vessel-rich group (VRG), muscle group (MG), and adipose tissue (fat) group (FG). The distribution of trichloroethylene in these... 

PBPK models have also been used to explain the rate of excretion of inhaled trichloroethylene and its major metabolites (Bogen 1988 Fisher et al. 1989, 1990, 1991 Ikeda et al. 1972 Ramsey and Anderson 1984 Sato et al. 1977). One model was based on the results of trichloroethylene inhalation studies using volunteers who inhaled 100 ppm trichloroethylene for 4 horns (Sato et al. 1977). The model used first-order kinetics to describe the major metabolic pathways for trichloroethylene in vessel-rich tissues (brain, liver, kidney), low perfused muscle tissue, and poorly perfused fat tissue and assumed that the compartments were at equilibrium. A value of 104 L/hour for whole-body metabolic clearance of trichloroethylene was predicted. Another PBPK model was developed to fit human metabolism data to urinary metabolites measured in chronically exposed workers (Bogen 1988). This model assumed that pulmonary uptake is continuous, so that the alveolar concentration is in equilibrium with that in the blood and all tissue compartments, and was an expansion of a model developed to predict the behavior of styrene (another volatile organic compound) in four tissue groups (Ramsey and Andersen 1984). 

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