Elimination rate constant
The elimination rate constant K is a value used in pharmacokinetics to describe the rate at which a drug is removed from the system.[1]
It is often abbreviated K or Ke. It is equivalent to the fraction of a substance that is removed per unit time measured at any particular instant and has units of T−1. This can be expressed mathematically with the differential equation
- ,
where is the blood plasma concentration of drug in the system at a given point in time , is an infinitely small change in time, and is the concentration of drug in the system after the infinitely small change in time.
The solution of this differential equation is useful in calculating the concentration after the administration of a single dose of drug via IV bolus injection:
- Ct is concentration after time t
- C0 is the initial concentration (t=0)
- K is the elimination rate constant
Derivation
In first-order (linear) kinetics, the plasma concentration of a drug at a given time t after single dose administration via IV bolus injection is given by;
where:
- C0 is the initial concentration (at t=0)
- t1/2 is the half-life time of the drug, which is the time needed for the plasma drug concentration to drop to its half
Therefore, the amount of drug present in the body at time t is;
where Vd is the apparent volume of distribution
Then, the amount eliminated from the body after time t is;
Then, the rate of elimination at time t is given by the derivative of this function with respect to t;
And since is fraction of the drug that is removed per unit time measured at any particular instant, then if we divide the rate of elimination by the amount of drug in the body at time t, we get;
Sample values and equations
Characteristic | Description | Example value | Symbol | Formula |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dose | Amount of drug administered. | 500 mg | Design parameter | |
Dosing interval | Time between drug dose administrations. | 24 h | Design parameter | |
Cmax | The peak plasma concentration of a drug after administration. | 60.9 mg/L | Direct measurement | |
tmax | Time to reach Cmax. | 3.9 h | Direct measurement | |
Cmin | The lowest (trough) concentration that a drug reaches before the next dose is administered. | 27.7 mg/L | Direct measurement | |
Volume of distribution | The apparent volume in which a drug is distributed (i.e., the parameter relating drug concentration to drug amount in the body). | 6.0 L | ||
Concentration | Amount of drug in a given volume of plasma. | 83.3 mg/L | ||
Elimination half-life | The time required for the concentration of the drug to reach half of its original value. | 12 h | ||
Elimination rate constant | The rate at which a drug is removed from the body. | 0.0578 h−1 | ||
Infusion rate | Rate of infusion required to balance elimination. | 50 mg/h | ||
Area under the curve | The integral of the concentration-time curve (after a single dose or in steady state). | 1,320 mg/L·h | ||
Clearance | The volume of plasma cleared of the drug per unit time. | 0.38 L/h | ||
Bioavailability | The systemically available fraction of a drug. | 0.8 | ||
Fluctuation | Peak trough fluctuation within one dosing interval at steady state | 41.8 % | where | |
References
- ↑ Svensén CH, Brauer KP, Hahn RG, et al. (September 2004). "Elimination rate constant describing clearance of infused fluid from plasma is independent of large infusion volumes of 0.9% saline in sheep". Anesthesiology. 101 (3): 666–674. PMID 15329591. doi:10.1097/00000542-200409000-00015.