When you are in pain, it's natural to try to alleviate it quickly. But popping painkillers might not be the best route to relief, say experts.
American scientists have found that something as simple as your posture could affect how fast the stomach absorbs any pill taken orally. Research suggests it is more effective to lie on your right side when taking medication. But don't turn the other way, or you could risk waiting longer for relief, according to findings published in the journal Physics of Fluids, reports Hull Live.
Scientists used a state-of-the-art biomimetic simulator – dubbed a "StomachSim" – for the study. They said the modelling is thought to be the first of its kind to couple gastric biomechanics with pill movement and drug dissolution to quantify an active pharmaceutical ingredient passing through the body.
It meant the researchers could calculate and compare the release of a dissolved pill into the duodenum for a variety of physiological situations. Study co-author Professor Rajat Mittal, of Johns Hopkins University, said: "Oral administration is surprisingly complex despite being the most common choice for drug administration.
"When the pill reaches the stomach, the motion of the stomach walls and the flow of contents inside determine the rate at which it dissolves. The properties of the pill and the stomach contents also play a major role."
He said the stomach's contents and gastric fluid dynamics are among factors that play a role in a drug's bioavailability, and stomach contractions can induce pressure and generate complex pill trajectories.
"This results in varying rates of pill dissolution and non-uniform emptying of the drug into the duodenum and, sometimes, gastric dumping in the case of modified-release dosage. Together, these issues pose several challenges for the design of drug delivery," he added.
"In this work, we demonstrate a novel computer simulation platform that offers the potential for overcoming these limitations.
"Our models can generate biorelevant data on drug dissolution that can provide useful and unique insights into the complex physiological processes behind the oral administration of pills."
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