Plasma protein binding
interacting selectively and non-covalently with any protein or protein complex (a complex of two or more proteins that may include other nonprotein molecules)
Plasma protein binding refers to the degree to which medications attach to blood proteins within the blood plasma. A drug's efficacy may be affected by the degree to which it binds. The less bound a drug is, the more efficiently it can traverse or diffuse through cell membranes. Common blood proteins that drugs bind to are human serum albumin, lipoprotein, glycoprotein, and α, β‚ and γ globulins.
Binding (drug distribution)
A drug in blood exists in two forms: bound and unbound. Depending on a specific drug's affinity for plasma proteins, a proportion of the drug may become bound to the proteins, with the remainder being unbound. If the protein binding is reversible, then a chemical equilibrium will exist between the bound and unbound states, such that:
Protein + drug ⇌ Protein-drug complex
Notably, it is the unbound fraction which exhibits pharmacologic effects. It is also the fraction that may be metabolized and/or excreted. For example, the "fraction bound" of the anticoagulant warfarin is 97%. This means that out of the amount of warfarin in the blood, 97% is bound to plasma proteins.
The public source identifies “Plasma protein binding” as interacting selectively and non-covalently with any protein or protein complex (a complex of two or more proteins that may include other nonprotein molecules). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Plasma, protein and binding.
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This entry incorporates text from “Plasma protein binding” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.