Modeling in biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics. Homogeneous and heterogeneous approaches. (Q818702)

This book presents a novel modelling approach to biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic phenomena. It addresses questions concerning solid drug particles, drug diffusions, arterial and venular trees, etc. It employs geometric, diffusion and dynamic concepts and tools from physics and mathematics and appiesy them to the analysis of complex phenomena. It introduces fractals, anomalous diffusions and the associated nonclassical dynamics. It uses stochastic modelling to study the intrinsic complexity of drug processes in homogeneous and heterogeneous media. It is organized in four parts. Part I (Chapters 1 - 3) presents fractals and non-classical diffusion dynamics. Part II (Chapters 4 - 6) discusses classical and nonclassical models in drug dissolution, release and absorption. Part III (Chapters 7 - 9) considers empirical, compartmental and stochastic pharmacokinetic models. Part IV (Chapters 10 and 11) examines classical pharmacodynamic models. There are several appendices dealing with stability analysis, simulation, time-varying models, probability, Laplace transforms, and estimation. The book assumes knowledge of analysis, calculus, differential equations, probability and statistics. Many of the ideas in this book should already be familiar in other fields, like fractal behavior of some types of kinetics, Monte Carlo simulation, stochastic modelling and nonlinearity. But the merits of the text is perhaps more in showing how these ideas can also be applied in pharmacology together with an extensive use of computers. This state-of-the-art volume will be helpful to students and researchers in pharmacology, bioengineering, and physiology. This book is a must for pharmaceutical researchers to keep up with recent developments in this field.