Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships. How are they useful in human toxicology?

PK-PD relationships describe in the same individual the quantitative relationship between a drug-induced effect and the timely corresponding drug concentrations. Numerous events can account for the discrepancy between the time course of the magnitude of a drug-induced effect and the time course of the evolving blood concentrations. PK-PD correlations investigate not only the mechanisms of occurrence but also of disappearance of a drug-induced action. PK-PD correlations are used daily in the assessment of the diagnosis and the prognosis of poisonings while many antidotal treatments are pharmacological modulations of PK-PD correlations. PK-PD correlation allows understanding of the meaning of blood toxicant concentration, and, thus, improvement of its clinical use.