Antiepileptic drugs: Energy-consuming processes governing drug disposition.

Diffusion is not the main process by which drugs are disposed throughout the body. Translational movements of solutes given by different energy-consuming mechanisms are required in order to dispose them efficiently. Membrane transportation and cardiac output distribution are two effective processes to move the molecules among different body sites.

Hyperammonemia associated with valproic acid concentrations.

Valproic acid, a branched short-chain fatty acid, has numerous action mechanisms which turn it into a broad spectrum anticonvulsant drug and make its use possible in some other pathologies such as bipolar disorder. It is extensively metabolized in liver, representing β -oxidation in the mitochondria one of its main metabolic route (40%). Carnitine is responsible for its entry into the mitochondria as any other fatty acid.