Think of ways that an understanding of pharmacokinetics can be applied to the daily practice of veterinary medicine. Give an example of the application of pharmacokinetics, and explain your example

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Some examples of how pharmacokinetics affect daily practice include the following:

Accidentally injecting medication into fat instead of into muscle will delay its
absorption because fat does not have as rich a blood supply as muscle does.

Animals that have low plasma protein levels should have their drug doses decreased to avoid signs of overdose. With fewer plasma protein molecules to bind drug, more drug is in the free form and available for distribution to the tissues.

Animals with ascites or other conditions that increase the volume of distribution will have more fluid in the body to dilute the drug, thereby reducing the drug's concentration. Drug doses may need to be adjusted in these animals.

Drugs with a long half-life take longer to reach steady state and may need a loading dose to be given to get drug levels in the therapeutic range more quickly.

Drugs are more rapidly absorbed from tissues with high levels of blood perfusion and therefore reach therapeutic levels more rapidly.