Skip to main content

The Constancy of the Product of Concentration and Time

  • Chapter

Abstract

The approach, that animal testing may predict pharmacological or toxicological responses in man, is undertaken with the conviction that there is a common plan for all living matter. The major biochemical discoveries of the last thirty years lend support to this conviction. It has been suggested that pharmacologic, toxic, and therapeutic effects of drugs can be directly related to the plasma or tissue concentration of the drug, i. e. the pharmacological responses of various species are similar for equal plasma or tissue levels of the drug. This suggestion is based on evidence that, in many instances, the receptors for a given type of drug are similar in various mammalian species. Gillette (1965), for example, showed that the paralytic effect of zoxazolamine lasted over sixty times longer in the rabbit than in the mouse, but found similar brain levels of the drug in both species at the time the righting reflex was restored. Similar observations with respect to brain levels were made in rats and guinea pigs, and in all four species serum levels were a reflection of brain drug levels. He also reported that carisoprodol had a 10-fold spread in duration of action in various animal species, but plasma levels on restoration of the righting reflex varied only about 30%. Quinn et al. (1958) observed a wide variation in the duration of the anesthetic action of hexobarbital among animal species, but found very little difference in plasma or brain levels of the drug when the animals recovered.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Adolph, E.F.: Quantitative relations in the physiological constitutions of mammals. Science 109 519–585 (1949).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brodie, B.B., Reid, W.D.: Some pharmacological consequences of species variation in rates of metabolism. Fed. Proc. 26 1062–1070 (1967).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, T.C.: Conference on nonhuman primate toxicology. (C. O. Miller, Ed.) Dept. Health, Education, and Welfare. Washington: 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camiener, G.W., Smith, C.G.: Studies of the enzymatic deamination of cytosine arabinoside. I. Enzyme distribution and species specificity. Biochem. Pharmacol. 14 1405–1416 (1965).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A.J.: The mode of action of drugs on cells, 1st ed. London: Arnold and Co. 1933.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A.J.: General pharmacology, 1st ed. Berlin: Julius Springer 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig, A.W., Fox, B.W., Jackson, H.: Metabolic studies of P33-labeled triethylenethiophos-phoramide. Biochem. Pharmacol. 3 42–50 (1959).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freireich, E. J., Gehan, E.A., Ball, D.P., Schmidt, L.H., Skipper, H.E.: Quantitative comparison of toxicity of anticancer agents in mouse, rat, hamster, dog, monkey, and man. Cancer Chemother. Rep. 50 219–244 (1966).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gillette, J. R.: Drug toxicity as a result of interference with physiological control mechanisms. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 123, 42–54 (1965).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Himmelfarb, P., Thayer, P.S., Martin, H.E.: Spin filter culture: The propagation of mammalian cells in suspension. Science 164 555–557 (1969).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ho, D.H., Frei, E. III: Clinical pharmacology of l-/?-D-arabinofuranosyl cytosine. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 12 944–954 (1971).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Loo, T.L., Luce, J.K., Sullivan, M.P., Frei, E. III: Clinical pharmacologic observations on 6-mercaptopurine and 6-methylthiopurine ribonucleoside. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 9 180–190 (1968a).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Loo, T.L., Tanner, B.B., Householder, G.E., Shepard, B. J.: Some pharmacokinetic aspects of 5-(dimethyltriazeno)imidazole-4-carboxamide in the dog. J. pharm. Sci. 57 2126–2129 (1968b).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mellett, L.B.: Comparative drug metabolism. In: Progress in drug research, Vol. 13, pp. 136–169. Basel and Stuttgart: Birkhäuser Verlag 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellett, L.B., Hodgson, P.E., Woods, L.A.: Absorption and fate of C14-labeled N, N′, N″-triethylenethiophosphoramide (thio-TEPA) in humans and dogs. J. Lab. clin. Med. 60 818–825 (1962).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mellett, L.B., Woods, L.A.: The comparative physiological disposition of thio-TEPA and TEPA in the dog. Cancer Res. 20 524–532 (1960).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mulligan, L.T., Mellett, L.B.: Comparative metabolism of cytosine arabinoside and inhibition of deamination by tetrahydrouridine. Pharmacologist 10 167 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinkel, D.: The use of body surface area as a criterion of drug dosage in cancer chemotherapy. Cancer Res. 18 853–856 (1958).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, G.P., Axelrod, J., Brodie, B.B.: Species, strain and sex differences in metabolism of hexobarbital, amidopyrine and aniline. Biochem. Pharmacol. 1 152–164 (1958).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruddon, R.W., Mellett, L.B.: The distribution of C14-labeled N, N’, N″-triethylenethio-phosphoramide (thio-TEPA) and its metabolites in normal and tumor-bearing rats. Cancer Chemother. Rep. 39 7–13 (1964).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Silver, S.D.: The relation of time to the dose required to produce a given physiological effect. Med. Div. Rep. No. 22, Edgewood Arsenal, Md.: Chemical Warfare Serv. 1945.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skipper, H.E.: The effect of chemotherapy on the kinetics of leukemic cell behavior. Cancer Res. 25 1544–1550 (1965).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Skipper, H.E., Schabel, F.M., Jr., Mellett, L.B., Montgomery, J.A., Wilkoff, L.J., Lloyd, H.H., Brockman, R.W.: Implications of biochemical, cytokinetic, pharmacologic, and toxicologic relationships in design of optimal therapeutic schedules. Cancer Chemother. Rep. 54 431–450 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  • Thayer, P.S., Himmelfarb, P., Roberts, D.: Effects of perfusion with amethopterin on L1210 leukemia cells in spin filter culture. Cancer Res. 30 1709–1714 (1970).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkoff, L.J., Wilcox, W.S., Burdeshaw, J.A., Dixon, G.J., Dtjlmadge, E.A.: Effect of antimetabolites on kinetic behavior of proliferating L1210 leukemia cells. J. nat. Cancer Inst. 39 965–975 (1967).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1974 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mellett, L.B. (1974). The Constancy of the Product of Concentration and Time. In: Sartorelli, A.C., Johns, D.G. (eds) Antineoplastic and Immunosuppressive Agents Part I. Handbuch der experimentellen Pharmakologie / Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 38 / 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65678-1_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65678-1_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-65680-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-65678-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics