Anaesthesia & intensive care medicine
Volume 9, Issue 4 , Pages 163-164, April 2008

Drugs acting by causing physicochemical changes in the environment

Barbara J Pleuvry, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Anaesthesia and Pharmacology at the University of Manchester, UK. She is a pharmacist by first degree but has been involved in teaching pharmacology to postgraduates and undergraduates for more than 30 years. Her research interests include pain, analgesia and anticonvulsant drugs

Abstract 

Most drugs act by binding to proteins such as receptors and enzymes, but some act by physically or chemically changing the environment within the body to cause beneficial effects. The laxatives are the largest group of drugs with these properties and include osmotic laxatives such as lactulose and the saline purgatives as well as faecal softeners and lubricants. Given intravenously mannitol is an osmotic diuretic. A number of drugs can alter urinary or gastric pH, the former may be useful in increasing or decreasing the excretion of weakly acidic or basic drugs and the latter is used to treat indigestion.

Keywords: laxatives, osmotic diuretics, urinary and gastric pH

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PII: S1472-0299(08)00039-8

doi:10.1016/j.mpaic.2008.02.003

Anaesthesia & intensive care medicine
Volume 9, Issue 4 , Pages 163-164, April 2008

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