In order to be absorbed by the body, many pharmaceutical agents like acetylsalic

Question

In order to be absorbed by the body, many pharmaceutical agents like acetylsalicylic acid must be able to diffuse across cell membranes in the digestive tract. Acetylsalicylic acid has a pK of 3.5. The pH of secretions in the stomach lumen is ~2, whereas the pH of secretions in the duodenum lumen is ~8. If acetylsalicylic acid was equally soluble in the secretions of these two regions of the digestive tract, would you expect acetylsalicylic acid to be passively absorbed more readily by individual stomach cells or by individual duodenal cells? Explain your choice.

Explanation / Answer

The lipophilic nature of the cellmembrane only permits the passage of the uncharged fraction of any drug. The degree to which a drug is ionized in a solution depends on the molecular structure of the drug and the pH of the solution in which it is dissolved and is given by the Henderson

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