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🩸 The Hepatic Portal Circulation and First-Pass Metabolism: Why Swallowing a Pill Is Not the Same as Injecting It

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🩸 The Hepatic Portal Circulation and First-Pass Metabolism: Why Swallowing a Pill Is Not the Same as Injecting It

This simulator demonstrates how blood from the digestive organs is rerouted through the liver via the hepatic portal vein before reaching systemic circulation, and how that detour causes first-pass metabolism to reduce the effective dose of an orally administered drug.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

This simulator demonstrates how blood from the digestive organs is rerouted through the liver via the hepatic portal vein before reaching systemic circulation, and how that detour causes first-pass metabolism to reduce the effective dose of an orally administered drug.

🎮 How to Use

Choose a route of administration, such as oral, sublingual, or injection, and adjust the drug dose to watch how much of it survives the liver's first pass and reaches systemic blood levels.

💡 Did You Know?

Grapefruit juice can inhibit some of the liver's first-pass metabolizing enzymes, which is why it can dangerously increase blood levels of certain oral medications.