Placental therapeutic drugs

Ramamoorthy S, Leibach FH, Mahesh VB, Ganapathy V (1993) Partial purification and characterization of the human placental serotonin transporter. Placenta 14 449-461 Rasmussen BB, Brosen K (2000) Is therapeutic drug monitoring a case for optimizing clinical outcome and avoiding interactions of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors Ther DrugMonit 22 143-154... 

Furthermore, it has been observed that placental PGP is of great importance in limiting the fetal penetration of various potentially harmful or therapeutic compounds [64]. High PGP levels may have a role in the protection of fetuses from harmful tropical plant metabolites (from which many drugs are derived). An originally balanced polymorphism may have been preferentially selected by improved prenatal growth and development as well as improved postnatal health. This selective pressure may maintain the C allele in populations of African descent. 

Figure 1.20. The elimination of amylobarbitone and Us metabolite determined by SIM in 50-100 gd plasma samples from a newborn infant following a single therapeutic dose of the drug to the mother 1.5 hr before delivery. Time zero is time of birth. The sharp rise in the plasma concentration of hydroxyamylobarbitone confirms the capacity of the infant to metabolise the placentally transferred barbiturate (reproduced from reference [423])...

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