A physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for human pregnan
cy must incorporate many factors that are not usually encountered in P
BPK models of mature animals. Models for pregnancy must include the la
rge changes that take place in the mother, the placenta and the embryo
/fetus over the period of pregnancy. The embryo/fetal weight change wa
s modeled using the Gompertz equation for growth which gave a good fit
to extensive pooled weight data of the human embryo/fetus from 25 to
300 days of gestation. This equation is based on a growth rate that is
proportional to the total weight of the organism with the proportiona
lity factor decreasing exponentially with time. Allometric equations,
which are widely used to relate organ weights, blood flow rates and ot
her attributes of mature animals to total weight, were adapted to corr
elate fetal organ weights with total fetal weight. Allometric relation
ships were also developed for plasma flow rates and other organ-relate
d parameters. The computer model, written in FORTRAN 77, included 27 c
ompartments for the mother and 16 for the fetus; it also accommodates
two substances allowing representation of a parent compound and a meta
bolite (or a second drug or environmental substance). Although this mo
del is large, the inherent sparsity in the equations allow it to be so
lved numerically in a reasonable time on currently available, reasonab
ly priced desktop computers. A nonlinear regression routine is include
d to fit key model parameters to experimental data. Concentrations of
chemicals administered and measured in the mother may be simulated in
both maternal and fetal organs at any day(s) between 25 days and 300 d
ays of gestation. Allometric relationships are also utilized to adopt
this human model for use with data obtained from animal experiments. (
C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.