Tissue blood flow rate

A physiologically based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) model based on the ventilation rate, cardiac output, tissue blood flow rates, and volumes as well as measured tissue/air and blood/air partition coefficients has been developed (Medinsky et al. 1989a Travis et al. 1990). Experimentally determined data and model simulations indicated that during and after 6 hours of inhalation exposure to benzene, mice metabolized benzene more efficiently than rats (Medinsky et al. 1989a). After oral exposure, mice and rats appeared to metabolize benzene similarly up to oral doses of 50 mg/kg, above which rats metabolized more benzene than did mice on a per kg body weight basis (Medinsky et al. 1989b). This model may be able to predict the human response based on animal data. Benzene metabolism followed Michaelis-Menton kinetics in vivo primarily in the liver, and to a lesser extent in the bone marrow. Additional information on PBPK modeling is presented in Section 2.3.5. 

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 and classical pharmacokinetic models both have valid applications in lead risk assessment. Both approaches can incorporate capacity-limited or nonlinear kinetic behavior in parameter estimates. An advantage of classical pharmacokinetic models is that, because the kinetic characteristics of the compartments of which they are composed are not constrained, a best possible fit to empirical data can be arrived at by varying the values of the parameters (O Flaherty 1987). However, such models are not readily extrapolated to other species because the parameters do not have precise physiological correlates. Compartmental models developed to date also do not simulate changes in bone metabolism, tissue volumes, blood flow rates, and enzyme activities associated with pregnancy, adverse nutritional states, aging, or osteoporotic diseases. Therefore, extrapolation of classical compartmental model simulations... 

While these models simulate the transfer of lead between many of the same physiological compartments, they use different methodologies to quantify lead exposure as well as the kinetics of lead transfer among the compartments. As described earlier, in contrast to PBPK models, classical pharmacokinetic models are calibrated to experimental data using transfer coefficients that may not have any physiological correlates. Examples of lead models that use PBPK and classical pharmacokinetic approaches are discussed in the following section, with a focus on the basis for model parameters, including age-specific blood flow rates and volumes for multiple body compartments, kinetic rate constants, tissue dosimetry,... 

Intramuscular and subcutaneous injections are by far the most common means of parenteral drug administration. Because of the high tissue blood flow and the ability of the injected solution to diffuse laterally, drug absorption generally is more rapid after intramuscular than after subcutaneous injection. Drug absorption from intramuscular and subcutaneous sites depends on the quantity and composition of the connective tissue, the capillary density, and the rate of vascular perfusion of the area. These factors can be influenced by the coinjection of agents that alter local blood flow (e.g., vasoconstrictors or vasodilators) or by substances that decrease tissue resistance to lateral diffusion (e.g., hyaluronidase). 

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models are a special type of PK model that attempts to provide more definition to the model analysis by incorporating physiological factors into the model design, like tissue volumes, blood flow rates, and species-specific enzyme characteristics that can more accurately differentiate the dose-response relationship for a chemical or drug in one species from that of another species. The power of this approach is to be able to perform laboratory studies, both in vitro and in vivo, in common experimental species... 

A PBPK model comprises a series of anatomically well-defined compartments that represent organs or tissues in which a xenobiotic distributes or exerts its toxic effects (Figure 4). These anatomical compartments are interconnected by the blood circulation (i.e., arterial blood to and venous blood from the tissues). The physiological and anatomical determinants for different species, including humans (e.g., alveolar ventilation rate, blood flow rates, and tissue volumes), are usually abundantly documented in the literature. Physicochemical parameters - namely partition coefficients that describe the relative solubility... 

The previously described equations are characteristic of blood flow rate-limited models it is assumed that xenobiotics cross the cell membrane by simple diffusion and that equilibrium takes place instantaneously between blood and tissue compartments. This assumption is valid for a great number of chemicals. For certain xenobiotics, however, the kinetics of tissue uptake are not consistent with blood flow rate-limited processes since their distribution in a given tissue is limited by the resistance of the cell membrane to the passage of a xenobiotic. In these cases, the basic equation should account for such phenomena to describe adequately the time course of the xenobiotic disposition in the tissue. 

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