Academic literature on the topic 'Bioavailability'

Drug bioavailability is a crucial aspect of pharmacology, affecting the effectiveness of drug therapy. Understanding how drugs are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and eliminated in patients’ bodies is essential to ensure proper and safe treatment. This publication aims to highlight the relevance of drug bioavailability research and its importance in therapy. In addition to biochemical activity, bioavailability also plays a critical role in achieving the desired therapeutic effects. This may seem obvious, but it is worth noting that a drug can only produce the expected effect if the proper level of concentration can be achieved at the desired point in a patient’s body. Given the differences between patients, drug dosages, and administration forms, understanding and controlling bioavailability has become a priority in pharmacology. This publication discusses the basic concepts of bioavailability and the factors affecting it. We also looked at various methods of assessing bioavailability, both in the laboratory and in the clinic. Notably, the introduction of new technologies and tools in this field is vital to achieve advances in drug bioavailability research. This publication also discusses cases of drugs with poorly described bioavailability, providing a deeper understanding of the complex challenges they pose to medical researchers and practitioners. Simultaneously, the article focuses on the perspectives and trends that may shape the future of research regarding bioavailability, which is crucial to the development of modern pharmacology and drug therapy. In this context, the publication offers an essential, meaningful contribution toward understanding and highlighting bioavailability’s role in reliable patient treatment. The text also identifies areas that require further research and exploration.

Abstract Busulfan is widely used as a component of the myeloablative therapy in bone marrow transplantation. Recent studies have shown that the drug disposition is altered in children and is associated with less therapeutic effectiveness, lower toxicities, and higher rates of engraftment failure. We have evaluated the bioavailability of the drug in two groups of patients: eight children between 1.5 and 6 years of age and eight older children and adults between 13 and 60 years. Oral bioavailability showed a large interindividual variation. In children, the bioavailability ranged from 0.22 to 1.20, and for adults, it was within the range 0.47 to 1.03. The elimination half-life after intravenous administration in children (2.46 +/- 0.27 hours; mean +/- SD) did not differ from that obtained for adults (2.61 +/- 0.62 hours). However, busulfan clearance normalized to body weight was significantly higher in children (3.62 +/- 0.78 mL.min-1.kg-1) than that in adults (2.49 +/- 0.52 mL.min-1.kg-1). Also, the distribution volume normalized for body weight was significantly higher in children (0.74 +/- 0.10 L.kg-1) compared with 0.56 +/- 0.10 L. kg-1 in adults. The difference in clearance between children and adults was not statistically significant when normalized to body surface area, which most probably shows that busulfan dosage should be calculated on the basis of surface area rather than body weight. However, to avoid drug-related toxicities, drug monitoring and an individual dose adjustment should be considered because of the variability in busulfan bioavailability.

Busulfan is widely used as a component of the myeloablative therapy in bone marrow transplantation. Recent studies have shown that the drug disposition is altered in children and is associated with less therapeutic effectiveness, lower toxicities, and higher rates of engraftment failure. We have evaluated the bioavailability of the drug in two groups of patients: eight children between 1.5 and 6 years of age and eight older children and adults between 13 and 60 years. Oral bioavailability showed a large interindividual variation. In children, the bioavailability ranged from 0.22 to 1.20, and for adults, it was within the range 0.47 to 1.03. The elimination half-life after intravenous administration in children (2.46 +/- 0.27 hours; mean +/- SD) did not differ from that obtained for adults (2.61 +/- 0.62 hours). However, busulfan clearance normalized to body weight was significantly higher in children (3.62 +/- 0.78 mL.min-1.kg-1) than that in adults (2.49 +/- 0.52 mL.min-1.kg-1). Also, the distribution volume normalized for body weight was significantly higher in children (0.74 +/- 0.10 L.kg-1) compared with 0.56 +/- 0.10 L. kg-1 in adults. The difference in clearance between children and adults was not statistically significant when normalized to body surface area, which most probably shows that busulfan dosage should be calculated on the basis of surface area rather than body weight. However, to avoid drug-related toxicities, drug monitoring and an individual dose adjustment should be considered because of the variability in busulfan bioavailability.

There is consensus that carbohydrate foods, in the form of fruit, vegetables and whole-grain products, are beneficial to health. However, there are strong indications that highly processed, fibre-depleted, and consequently rapidly digestible, energy-dense carbohydrate food products can lead to over-consumption and obesity-related diseases. Greater attention needs to be given to carbohydrate bioavailability, which is determined by the chemical identity and physical form of food. The objective of the present concept article is to provide a rational basis for the nutritional characterisation of dietary carbohydrates. Based on the properties of carbohydrate foods identified to be of specific relevance to health, we propose a classification and measurement scheme that divides dietary carbohydrates into glycaemic carbohydrates (digested and absorbed in the small intestine) and non-glycaemic carbohydrates (enter the large intestine). The glycaemic carbohydrates are characterised by sugar type, and by the likely rate of digestion described by in vitro measurements for rapidly available glucose and slowly available glucose. The main type of non-glycaemic carbohydrates is the plant cell-wall NSP, which is a marker of the natural fibre-rich diet recognised as beneficial to health. Other non-glycaemic carbohydrates include resistant starch and the resistant short-chain carbohydrates (non-digestible oligosaccharides), which should be measured and researched in their own right. The proposed classification and measurement scheme is complementary to the dietary fibre and glycaemic index concepts in the promotion of healthy diets with low energy density required for combating obesity-related diseases.

The achievement of optimal folate status to prevent neural-tube defects, and possibly other diseases, is hindered by the well-recognised incomplete bioavailability of the natural folates found in foods compared with the synthetic vitamin, folic acid. Folate bioavailability from different foods is considered to be dependent on a number of factors, including the food matrix, the intestinal deconjugation of polyglutamyl folates, the instability of certain labile folates during digestion and the presence of certain dietary constituents that may enhance folate stability during digestion. There is conflicting evidence as to whether the extent of conjugation of polyglutamyl folate (in the absence of specific inhibitors of deconjugation in certain foods) is a limiting factor in folate bioavailability. Estimates of the extent of lower bioavailability of food folates compared with folic acid (relative bioavailability) show great variation, ranging anywhere between 10 and 98%, depending on the methodological approach used. The lack of accurate data on folate bioavailability from natural food sources is of particular concern in those countries in which there is no mandatory folic acid fortification, and therefore a greater reliance on natural food folates as a means to optimise status. Apart from the incomplete bioavailability of food folates, the poor stability of folates in foods (particularly green vegetables) under typical conditions of cooking can substantially reduce the amount of vitamin ingested and thereby be an additional factor limiting the ability of food folates to enhance folate status. A recent workshop convened by the Food Standards Agency concluded that gaining a better understanding of folate bioavailability in representative human diets is a high priority for future research.