Abstract
The passage of drugs and other foreign chemicals across the placenta and their distribution into and ultimate removal from fetal tissues are influenced by a variety of factors. Obviously of prime significance are the physicochemical properties of the compound in question. Equally important, however, are the pertinent anatomic features of and hemodynamic and pharmacokinetic events within the maternal circulation, the placenta and the fetus. The present chapter will concentrate on these fundamental principles. For more detailed analysis of some individual drug groups, the interested reader is directed to excellent reviews by Marx (1961), Moya and Thorndike (1962), Moya and Smith (1965) and Adamsons and Joelsson (1966).
Department of Anesthesiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, N.Y. 10032. The work performed in this laboratory was supported in part by NIGMS grant no. GM-09069.
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Finster, M., Mark, L.C. (1971). Placental Transfer of Drugs and their Distribution in Fetal Tissues. In: Brodie, B.B., Gillette, J.R., Ackerman, H.S. (eds) Concepts in Biochemical Pharmacology. Handbuch der experimentellen Pharmakologie/Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 28 / 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65052-9_15
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