In vitro simulation of in vivo pharmacokinetic model with intravenous administration via flow rate modulation

The aim of this paper was to propose a method of flow rate modulation for simulation of in vivo pharmacokinetic (PK) model with intravenous injection based on a basic in vitro PK model. According to the rule of same relative change rate of concentration per unit time in vivo and in vitro, the equations for flow rate modulation were derived using equation method. Four examples from literature were given to show the application of flow rate modulation in the simulation of PK model of antimicrobial agents in vitro. Then an experiment was performed to confirm the feasibility of flow rate modulation method using levo-ornidazole as an example. The accuracy and precision of PK simulations were evaluated using average relative deviation (ARD), mean error and root mean squared error. In vitro model with constant flow rate could mimic one-compartment model, while the in vitro model with decreasing flow rate could simulate the linear mammillary model with multiple compartments. Zero-order model could be simulated using the in vitro model with elevating flow rate. In vitro PK model with gradually decreasing flow rate reproduced the two-compartment kinetics of levo-ornidazole quite well. The ARD was 0.925 % between in vitro PK parameters and in vivo values. Results suggest that various types of PK model could be simulated using flow rate modulation method without modifying the structure. The method provides uniform settings for the simulation of linear mammillary model and zero-order model based on in vitro one-compartment model, and brings convenience to the pharmacodynamic study.