Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Dried Blood and Serum Spots As A Useful Tool for Sample Storage to Evaluate Cancer Biomarkers
Published on: June 11, 2018
Facilitating pharmacokinetic studies in children: a new use of dried blood spots
Parul Patel1, Hussain Mulla, Sangeeta Tanna
1School of Pharmacy, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.
Abstract:
Pharmacokinetic data are used to develop dosing regimens for medicines. The dose regimens of many drugs administered to children have historically been based on pharmacokinetic data generated in adults. The 'adult' dose was simply adjusted to the child's body weight or surface area. This practice is potentially unsafe and not acceptable to drug regulatory agencies. Obtaining pharmacokinetic data in children is beset with ethical issues and technical challenges as pharmacokinetic studies require repeated measurement of drug levels in blood. Dried blood spot (DBS) samples used in conjunction with population pharmacokinetic modelling techniques is one potential method for performing pharmacokinetic studies in children. In this article, we review the DBS technique for performing pharmacokinetic studies and highlight issues that still need to be addressed to establish DBS as a method for performing pharmacokinetic studies in children.
Related Concept Videos
Bioavailability Study Design: Healthy Subjects Versus Patients
Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Drug Excretion
Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Drug Distribution
Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Drug Metabolism
Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Overview and Drug Absorption
Bioavailability Study Design: Single Versus Multiple Dose Studies

