General treatment of linear mammillary models.

This paper deals with the mathematical analysis of time courses of absorption, distribution and elimination of drug in a body, which is of considerable value in developing dosage schedules to provide optimal therapeutic action and to reduce the unwanted side effects due to accumulation of drug in the body to a minimum. We consider a general n-compartment model, where elimination occurs from the central compartment which, in turn, is connected reversibly with all other compartments. This linear mammillary model can be used to study the kinetics of protein metabolism in organism. We use an optimization method to characterize the pharmacokinetic profiles of drug for a general n-compartment model. Results are compared to those obtained by making use of (a) SAAM program and (b) an asymptotic method.