Medicine Box Challenge: 1/3 - 1. What happens when you take a medicine?
There are some medicines that we take or use that go directly to that part of the body that has got the problem. Can you think of any?
If you take a medicine as a solid by mouth it ends up in the stomach which is full of water containing digestive enzymes and acid. For the drug (the biologically active ingredient) to get into the blood stream, and therefore round the body, it has to cross a number of barriers.
First of all the solid has to dissolve in the water in the stomach, then it has to cross the wall of the stomach and then it must pass into the water of the blood stream. All of our cells are covered in a fatty membrane and drugs have to pass through this. Therefore, drugs which are absorbed well must have solubility in both water and fats otherwise they can not cross these barriers.
If you take a medicine as a solid by mouth it ends up in the stomach which is full of water containing digestive enzymes and acid. For the drug (the biologically active ingredient) to get into the blood stream, and therefore round the body, it has to cross a number of barriers.
First of all the solid has to dissolve in the water in the stomach, then it has to cross the wall of the stomach and then it must pass into the water of the blood stream. All of our cells are covered in a fatty membrane and drugs have to pass through this. Therefore, drugs which are absorbed well must have solubility in both water and fats otherwise they can not cross these barriers.