The area under the curve (AUC) is the area beneath the drug concentration curve over the course of a single dose.
The y axis is time (minutes or hours) and the x axis is drug concentration (mg per mL, mg per L, micrograms per mL, etc), so the units for area are (unit of weight) • (unit of time) / (unit of volume).
The AUC can be calculated in several ways:
(1) cutting out the curve and weighing it
(2) integrating the area under the curve
(3) calculating the area based on dose and drug clearance
area under the curve in mg • hour / L =
= (fraction of dose absorbed) * (dose in mg) / (clearance in L per hour)
area under the curve in mg • min / mL =
= (fraction of dose absorbed) * (dose in mg) / (clearance in mL per minute)
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