This Excel module explores how drugs are processed and absorbed in the human body. By entering the half-lives of any drug, selecting the dosage amount, choosing the frequency of the dose, and choosing whether doses are missed, the user can visually interpret whether or not the drug remains in a therapeutic range, or steady state.

This module consists of four files; there are two files for each type of model. For each model, there is a short time module that simulated the process for less than a month, and there is a longer time module, where several months are simulated. The differences in the file types are noted in the titles of the files.

The first model is a one-compartment pharmacokinetics model. This model can be used to explore injected drugs, or drugs that are administered directly into the action site, such as eye drops. The second model is a two-compartment pharmacokinetics model. This type of model would be used to explore drugs that are taken orally, and must go through the gut before being distributed through the body by the blood. This model could be used to explore any drug that must go through one organ before entering the blood.

• Documentation

Two-Compartment Pharmacokinetics Model

Spitznagel, E. ''Two-Compartment Pharmacokinetics Models.'' C-ODE-E. Harvey Mudd College, Fall 1992.

Begg, E. J. Instant Clinical Pharmacology. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.: Oxford. 2003.

Gibaldi, M. and D. Perrier. Pharmacokinetics. 2nd ed. Marcel Dekker: New York. 1982.

Gabrielsson, J. and D. Weiner. Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Data Analysis: Concepts and Applications. Swedish Pharmaceutical Society: Stockholm. 2007.

Washington, N., Washington, C., and C. Wilson. Physiological Pharmaceutics: Barriers to Drug Absorption. 2nd ed. Taylor and Francis (CRC Press): London. 2001.

Austen, D. J., White, N. J., and R. M. Anderson. ''The dynamics of drug actions on the within-host population growth of infectious agents.'' J. Theor. Biol. 7 Oct 1998. 194(3): 313-39.

Paixão, P., Gouveia L. F., and J. A. G. Morais. ''Prediction of drug distribution within blood.'' Eur. J. Pharm. Sci. 2 March 2009. 36(4-5): 544-54.

Sheiner, L. B. and S. L. Beal. ''Bayesian individualization of pharmacokinetics: simple implementation and comparison with non-Bayesian methods.'' J. Pharm. Sci. Dec 1982. 71(12): 1344-48.

Funatogawa, T. and I. Funatogawa. ''The Bayesian bias correction method of first-order approximation of nonlinear mixed-effects models for population pharmacokinetics.'' J. Biopharm. Stat. 2007. 17(3): 381-92.

Koch, G. A. ''Drugs in the Classroom: Using Pharmacokinetics to Introduce Biomathematical Modeling.'' Math. Model. Nat. Phen. Accepted January 2011. In-press.

Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine: Department of Pharmacology

PPlane Java Applet (Phase Plane Analysis Software)

2006 Phish-Pharm Database of Pharmacokinetics Data in Fish

The Complete Pharmacokinetic Database

U. S. Food and Drug Administration - Drugs@FDA

Thomson, A. ''Back to basics: pharmacokinetics.'' Society. June 2004. 272: 769-71.

Pub: Springer Netherlands. ''Pharmacokinetics and biopharmaceutics: a definition of terms.'' J. Pharmacokinet. Phar. 21 Feb 1973. 1(1): 3-4.