Chapter 4
a) Laboratory reports. You may use any calculator/computer available to you to produce a good quality report. Although you may work in groups, I expect that you will hand in laboratory reports which reflect you own work. For the computer simulation exercises you may work in groups, producing a single copy of the graphs and photocopy enough for each member of the group. Each member of the group should then write their own notes and explanations on the graphs.
b) Homework assignments. Again you may use any calculator/computer available to you to complete the assignment (except graphs). Do not use computer graphing programs to draw your graphs. You should use the homework assignments as a chance to practice using semi-log (in particular) graph paper.
View laboratory reports and homework as practice for the exams. Make every effort to understand what you turn in.
c) Exams. In exam situations I expect you to use non-programmable calculators. You should choose a calculator which will give ln, log, exp type functions. It may have built in linear regression but I don't want you to use a calculator computer preprogrammed for pharmacokinetic calculations. Also, a number of calculators allow storage of relatively large amounts of text. Since these can be used as electronic crib notes I cannot allow them in the exams. If you routinely use a sophisticated calculator you may need to purchase a less expensive version for the exams.
2. Given the following data (Table 1) collected after a 300 mg i.v. bolus dose, calculate kel, Cp0, V, t1/2, and AUC (using the trapezoidal rule). Verify that the drug follows linear one compartment pharmacokinetics!
| Time (hr) | Concentration (mg/L) |
|---|---|
| 1.0 | 15.7 |
| 2.0 | 13.8 |
| 6.0 | 8.3 |
| 12.0 | 3.2 |
3. Given that a drug follows linear one compartment pharmacokinetics, with kel = 0.17 hr-1 and V = 29 L, calculate a suitable i.v. bolus dose to maintain plasma concentrations of the drug above 4 mg/L for 12 hours. What is the initial plasma concentration?