ABSTRACT
There are no generally appropriate animal models which are usually predictive of human exposure and responses to foreign compounds. Retrospective evaluation of animal data following metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies in man can uncover similarities between a given species and man in the disposition of a specific xenobiotic or class of xenobiotics. Since the source of species similarities and differences is often due to the metabolic disposition of the compound, such evaluations expand the knowledge on the range of factors that contribute to differential species susceptibility to xenobiotics. Although most species are capable of carrying out the metabolic reactions, it is common to encounter species variation in the relative extents of potential biotransformation processes. The higher the binding to plasma proteins, the greater the extent to which species variation in binding can potentially affect the therapeutic and toxic properties of a foreign compound.
