ABSTRACT
The elimination processes may be envisaged as a chemical defense of the body in the absence of which extensive toxicity to drugs and other chemicals would ensue. Just as with other physiological processes, metabolism of drugs varies throughout maturation and ageing. The variability in drug meta bolism is two-dimensional. First, there is a variation along the age axis. Second, and perpendicular to the age axis, there is a variation at each stage of development and ageing. The former kind of variation has been extensively explored and described (O’Mahony and Woodhouse, 1994; Woodhouse and Wynne, 1992; Rane, 1995), whereas only little information about the latter dimension of variability is available.
