Principles of Nonlinear Pharmacokinetics

PROLOGUE Nonlinear pharmacokinetics, as opposed to the more commonly observed linear pharmacokinetics, is a topic of discussion in most basic pharmacokinetics courses offered to pharmacy students. Although nonlinearity in pharmacokinetics may occur in all aspects of pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution, and/or elimination), most introductory courses focus on nonlinearity in the metabolism or MichaelisMenten kinetics. The materials presented in this article are learning tools that the instructor uses to facilitate students learning of this topic during two 75-minute sessions at Texas Tech School of Pharmacy. The tools provided to students include expected outcomes, specific objectives, a reading handout on the topic, a practice problem to be discussed in class, additional computer-generated practice problems, a homework assignment, computer simulations used inside and outside the classroom, and daily quizzes offered at the end of each class.