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Pharmacy & Pharmacology vocabulary · Pharmacokinetics

Metabolism

Meaning in pharmacy & pharmacology, with examples

/məˈtæbəˌlɪzəm/nounCore term

In pharmacy & pharmacology, metabolism means: The chemical changes that the body, mainly the liver, makes to a drug, usually turning it into substances that are less active and easier to remove.

In Turkish: metabolizma, biyotransformasyon

How it is used

The M in ADME. Many drugs are metabolised by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, so substances that inhibit or induce these enzymes cause many interactions. The products are called metabolites. Some drugs, called prodrugs, only become active after metabolism; codeine, for example, is partly turned into morphine.

Example sentences

  1. Liver disease can slow the metabolism of many drugs.

  2. Rifampicin speeds up the metabolism of hormonal contraceptives and can make them less effective.

Common collocations

  • drug metabolism
  • hepatic metabolism
  • active metabolite
  • CYP450 metabolism
  • first-pass metabolismThe breakdown of a swallowed drug in the gut wall and liver before it reaches the general circulation, which lowers the amount that can act in the body.
  • eliminationThe removal of a drug from the body through metabolism and excretion, mainly by the kidneys into urine and by the liver into bile.
  • drug interactionA change in the effect of a medicine caused by another medicine, a food, a drink or a disease, which can make the medicine weaker, stronger or more harmful.
  • pharmacokineticsThe study of what the body does to a drug: how it is absorbed, distributed, metabolised and eliminated, and how its level in the blood changes over time.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Pharmacokinetics

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