Area under the curve (pharmacokinetics)


In the field of pharmacokinetics, the area under the curve is the definite integral of a curve that describes the variation of a drug concentration in blood plasma as a function of time. In practice, the drug concentration is measured at certain discrete points in time and the trapezoidal rule is used to estimate AUC.

Interpretation and usefulness of AUC values

The AUC represents the total drug exposure across time. AUC is a useful metric when trying to determine whether two formulations of the same dose result in equal amounts of tissue or plasma exposure. Another use is in the therapeutic drug monitoring of drugs with a narrow therapeutic index. For example, gentamicin is an antibiotic that can be nephrotoxic and ototoxic ; measurement of gentamicin through concentrations in a patient's plasma and calculation of the AUC is used to guide the dosage of this drug.
AUC becomes useful for knowing the average concentration over a time interval, AUC/t. Also, AUC is referenced when talking about elimination. The amount eliminated by the body = clearance * AUC.

AUC and bioavailability

In pharmacokinetics, bioavailability generally refers to the fraction of drug that is absorbed systemically and is thus available to produce a biological effect. This is often measured by quantifying the "AUC". In order to determine the respective AUCs, the serum concentration vs. time plots are typically gathered using C-14 labeled drugs and AMS.
Bioavailability can be measured in terms of "absolute bioavailablity" or "relative bioavailablity".

Absolute bioavailability

Absolute bioavailablity refers to the bioavailability of drug when administered via a non-intravenous dosage form compared with the bioavailability of the same drug administered intravenously. This is done by comparing the AUC of the non-intravenous dosage form with the AUC for the drug administered intravenously. This fraction is normalized by multiplying by each dosage form's respective dose.

Relative bioavailability

Relative bioavailability compares the bioavailability between two different dosage forms. Again, the relative AUCs are used to make this comparison and relative doses are used to normalize the calculation.