Title:Drug Metabolizing Enzymes in the Perinatal and Neonatal Period: Differences in the Expression and Activity
VOLUME: 14 ISSUE: 2
Author(s):Laura Cuzzolin
Affiliation:Department of Public Health & Community Medicine-Section of Pharmacology, University of Verona, Policlinico G.B. Rossi, Piazzale L.A. Scuro, 37134 Verona, Italy.
Keywords:Newborns, drugs, enzymes, Drug Metabolizing Enzymes, Perinatal, Neonatal Period, toxicity, phase II, CYP2C, CYP3A5, Sulfation
Abstract:Physiological changes occurring perinatally and in the first month of life can affect the answer to a pharmacological treatment
and the individual response to a drug in terms of efficacy and toxicity is highly variable in the neonatal population. Among potential
causes for such variability, differences in drug metabolism may have a great impact.
This article aims to review qualitative and quantitative differences in drug metabolizing enzymes in neonates, since both phase I and
phase II metabolic pathways are immature at birth and subject to maturational changes in the first period of extrauterine life.
Moreover, clinical implications will be discussed.
