UNCERTAIN PHARMACOKINETIC PHARMACODYNAMIC SYSTEMS - DESIGN, ESTIMATION AND CONTROL/

In the study of many biological systems, measurement of some process v ariables occurs only infrequently and at irregular intervals relative to system time constants, while others are completely unobservable. Th e quantitative study of such sparse data systems (common in the fields of biochemistry, endocrinology, immunology, metabolism, pharmacology, pharmaceutical sciences, toxicology, and other areas), requires model ing methodologies developed expressly to handle the challenges of mode ling and data analysis under the constraints of limited data. This pre sentation reviews current methods for design, estimation and control o f sparse data systems, focusing on methods that formally incorporate i mportant sources of uncertainty (both biological and experimental) int o the modeling and analysis processes. The methods are illustrated usi ng examples from pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.