[Studies on drug metabolism in obese men and mice (author's transl)].

In 7 obese patients with an overweight of 53 +/- 19% of Broca we found a 2-fold enlarged apparent volume of distribution and a nearly 2-fold prolonged elimination halflife of hexobarbital; the hexobarbital plasma clearance however, which is nearly identical with the metabolizing capacity of the liver for hexobarbital, was not decreased. Phenobarbital induced the microsomal drugmetabolizing enzyme system in the fatty liver of genetically obese mice in the same way 2-3-fold as in the non-fatty liver of the lean littermates.