Computational methods for the screening of pharmacokinetic parameters in metabolism experiments.

A computational strategy is presented which is useful for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of reaction-kinetic parameters in a one-compartment open model for the metabolism of substances in a biological system, especially the metabolism of dialkylnitrosamines to the ultimate carcinogen. The mathematical model used is that of first order kinetics and results in Bateman-functions. The strategy allows to decide about stability or instability of a substance occurring in a chain of transformations. In the case of stability quantitative estimates of the half life are provided. The procedure compares parameter estimates from models of different qualitative nature. These estimates are derived by linear or non-linear regression methods.