Millipore Technical Publications |
 | AN- AN1002EN00 | |
Assay of Free Anticonvulsant Drugs With separation by Centrifree® Micropartition DeviceWith separation by Centrifree Micropartition Device | ||
| Lit No: | AN1002EN00 | |
| Year: | 2000 | |
| The binding of anticonvulsant drugs (phenytoin, valproic acid and carbamazepine) to a patient's blood proteins can have a significant effect on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics of the drug. This, of course, can considerably affect how the patient responds to the drug as well as the physician's approach and adjustment of drug therapy. For drugs largely bound to proteins in the blood plasma (mostly albumin), it is the unbound (free) concentration of the drugs which is biologically active and is, therefore, significant for the patient's pharmacologic response and for the physician's determination of drug administration. Normal changes in physiology and diseases as well as the drug therapy itself can alter the degree of protein binding, thereby changing the important concentration of free drug in the blood stream. When patient response to anticonvulsant drug therapy does not correspond to the measured total drug concentration, knowledge of the unbound drug concentration enables the clinician to make appropriate adjustments of the patient's therapeutic regimen. Click the PDF above for the full document. | |
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