Determination of ADME and bioavailability following intravenous, oral, and dermal routes of exposure.

Humans are exposed to chemicals either voluntarily or involuntarily through several routes. Therapeutic drugs are introduced into the human system via a number of routes including, but not limited to, oral, inhalation, intravenous (i.v.), topical, and subcutaneous. For occupational and environmental chemicals, the major routes of human exposure are inhalation, dermal, and oral. To determine the extent of exposure to chemicals, the concentration of the active molecules is measured in a biological medium. Determination of absolute and/or relative bioavailability of occupational and environmental chemical exposure through different routes is critical in understanding the risk to the general population of a low-level exposure to these chemicals. This unit describes typical protocol designs to generate data for the calculation of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME) and absolute and relative bioavailability of chemicals when exposed through i.v., oral, and dermal routes. Curr. Protoc. Toxicol. 41:5.8.1-5.8.19.