Effect of liver pathophysiology on hepatic pharmacokinetics

Funded Activity Summary

The liver is the main organ in the body for the metabolism and biliary excretion of natural and foreign solutes. Various liver diseases such as cirrhosis, alcoholic liver disease, diet and drug induced fatty livers can affect the uptake and metabolism of drugs and their suitability- dosing needs. Some liver diseases such as fatty livers are very common but how rapidly drugs are metabolised in these patients is not well described. The work is important as it may help us better design new drugs and better choose which drugs to give and, if so, in what doses. In addition, many liver diseases require a biopsy for a definite diagnosis of the likely function of the liver. Estimation of liver function is particularly important in estimating whether there will be sufficient reserve on resection of a cancer or deciding if a liver transplant is needed. The liver is also a very complex organ which can trap or breakdown solutes by a range of different systems. Also of importance is how those diseases affect drug disposition in the liver given that an altered hepatic drug disposition may affect systemic response to the drugs and their metabolites. This work seeks to answer these questions.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2003

End Date: 01-01-2005

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $457,500.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Medical biochemistry - inorganic elements and compounds

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Liver disease | Minimising adverse effects of drugs | Optimal therapeutics | cirrhosis | liver disease | liver function | liver resection | modelling | pharmacokinetics

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