Is ibuprofen metabolized in the kidneys or liver?

There has been a long-standing debate on whether ibuprofen is metabolized in the kidneys or liver. With all these new-age health joggers popping up, let’s dive deep into this topic and finally put it to rest.

A brief overview of ibuprofen

Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that reduces pain, fever and inflammation by blocking prostaglandin production which plays a role in causing pain, swelling and inflammation. It has become the go-to for minor pains like headaches and sore muscles since its discovery in 1961.

The Composition of Ibuprofen

Every runner out there knows what they are putting their body through when they embark on those endless marathons. Ibuprofen comes packaged as an organic compound with molecular formula C₁₃H₁₈O₂ that is also known as isobutylphenyl propionic acid.

What happens after ingestion?

One thing we know for certain – once you swallow some pills, things start happening down below!

Oral absorption

Oral administration allows rapid active plasma concentrations to peak within one hour with a half-life of two hours making it easily assimilated into your system so tomorrow’s run isn’t held back due to yesterday’s soreness!

While blood levels quickly rise after oral consumption due to quick absorption from intestines , less than 10% actually reaches systemic circulation before being broken down in our bodily systems.

This leads us to …

Metabolism pathways:

Given that any foreign entity entering our body must undergo metabolism via various enzymatic reactions while circulating throughout blood serum- question arises: where exactly does Ibuprofen undergo metabolic degradation?
Well… I’m sorry but this answer isn’t black or white.

Hepatic clearance rate

As clear as day (or should I say night? Too cheesy..) Ibuprofen is metabolized in the liver with nearly 85% being eliminated via urine. The rest of the un-metabolised residual amounts were simultaneously filtered through our kidneys , making for a rather difficult process to ascertain which organ it truly ‘belongs’ to.

Metabolites produced

Not only does ibuprofen get broken down into compounds like carboxy-ibuprophen etc… but these are then further transformed by mid-chain hydroxylations, leading to additional derivitives like those damn inhibiting COX moieties! This step-wise degradation pathway concludes upon glucuronization resulting in both inactive and active sub-products which undergo renal excretion.

Final Verdict:

In conclusion, while kidneys also do play some role this metabolic drug clearance item when consumed; true elimination mainly is arterial as hepatic processing really results in its major breakdown mechanism.
So, now that we know once again how our inner machinery processes this wonder pain reliever– lets hope it spares us some guilt on never asking ourselves: “Where does all that Ibuprofen go?”

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