Dose:

Quantity of medicine prescribed to be

taken at one time
Substance, situation, or quantity of
anything analogous to medicine
Especially of something disagreeable
• Efficacy:
• The ability of a drug after binding with
receptors to initiate change which leads to
certain effects
• Simply, Efficacy (Emax) is the capacity of a
drug to produce a maximum response
• Efficacy is the maximal response that can
be elicited by the drug
• Efficacy is the ability of a drug to produce
a physiologic response
• Potency :
• Comparative measure of different doses
of two drugs that are needed to produce
the same pharmacological effect
• It is also known as drug strength
• Potency is the amount of drug needed to
produce a certain response
• Cumulation:
• The accumulation of drug in high
concentration after continuous
administration
• Can lead to toxicity
• Tolerance:
• Cellular adaptation to a foreign chemical
substances induce by repeated
administration
• Dose increase to get the maximum effect
• Natural tolerance
• Acquired Tolerance
• True cellular Tolerance
• Cross Tolerance
• Tachyphylaxis:
• Acute tolerance develop in experimental
situation
• Develop quickly
• Can not be overcome by increasing the
dose
• Intolerance:
• Greater then normal susceptibility to the
known action of drug
• Development of cinchonism to usual dose
of quinine
• Iodism with usual dose of iodine
• Idiosyncrasy:
• Unusual or qualitative different
response to drug
• Morphine & Phenobarbital produce
excitement in occasional patients
Plasma Half Life
This is the period of time required for the
concentration of drug in the plasma to be
reduced by one-half
Usually consider the half life of a drug in
relation to the amount of the drug in plasma
Depends on how quickly the drug is
eliminated from the plasma
• A drug molecule that leaves plasma may
have any of several fates
• Elimination from the body
• Translocated to another body fluid
compartment
• Intracellular fluid
• Can be destroyed in the blood
• Clearance:
• Removal of a drug from the plasma
• Volume of distribution:
• Distribution of the drug in the various
body tissues
• Both of these parameters are important
in determining the half life of a drug
• Represent the half-life: t½
Steady-state concentration
•  Time during which the concentration of
the drug in the body stays consistent
• For most drugs, the time to reach steady
state is four to five half-lives
• If drug is given at regular intervals—no
matter the number of doses, the dose
size, or the dosing interval
Biological half-life
• Also known as elimination half-
life, Pharmacologic half-life of a biological
substance such as medication
• The time it takes from its maximum
concentration (Cmax) to half maximum
concentration in human body
• Denoted by the abbreviation t1/2
• Used to measure the removal of things such
as 
• Metabolites
• Drugs
• Signaling molecules from the body
• Refers to the body's natural cleansing
through the function of the liver and through
the excretion of through kidneys and
intestines
Presystemic elimination
• Occurs when orally administered drugs are
metabolized during their passage from the
gut lumen to the systemic circulation
• The organs that may be potentially
involved are
• Intestine
• Liver & the lung
• Latter site has received relatively little
attention