Prednisone
Prednisone, a hormone. Synthetic glucocorticoid prodrug — converted to active prednisolone by hepatic 11β-HSD1. ~4× the glucocorticoid potency… Oral half-life 3.3 h.
Synthetic glucocorticoid prodrug — converted to active prednisolone by hepatic 11β-HSD1. ~4× the glucocorticoid potency of cortisol with reduced mineralocorticoid effect. Workhorse of inflammatory + autoimmune therapy.
PK models PREDNISOLONE, the active species (prednisone is a prodrug). Carson 2004 (PMID:15098802), 14 healthy volunteers, IV 40 mg, verbatim "volume of distribution (39.5 +/- 12.4 ... L)" and "elimination half-life (3.32 +/- 0.83 ... hrs)" — one paper, one arm, so volume and half-life stay mutually consistent; Tauber 1984 (PMID:6698661) corroborates 3.1 h. All four values stored until 2026-09-06 were unsourced: the previous citation (PMID:39962604) is a real prednisone PK study but states no ka, volume or half-life, and its "approximately 80%" is bioavailability RELATIVE to oral prednisolone, not absolute F. No absolute F is stored because the quantity is ill-defined here — Ferry 1988 (PMID:3350994) found reversible prednisone/prednisolone interconversion gives ~70% against IV prednisone but exceeds 1 against IV prednisolone. CAVEAT: kinetics are dose-dependent through saturable transcortin binding, clearance rising from 111 to 194 mL/min/1.73m2 across 5-40 mg with volume rising alongside (Rose 1981, PMID:7310640), so this set describes the 40 mg range. MASS: the stored molecular weight described the PARENT while pk_analyte declares the metabolite, so the one field that must name a single species named the wrong one. LATENT RATHER THAN LIVE — this record carries no occupancy rows and is no other record interaction perpetrator — but it is one authored edge away from being live, because both consumers of the field (the micromolar-to-mass conversion for a kinetics edge, and the affinity the app renders from a stored occupancy concentration) want the species that actually circulates, which is the species pk[] already describes.
Pharmacokinetics
- Oral — t½ 3.3 h · Vd 39.5 L
Sources: PMID:15098802, PMID:39962604, PMID:7310640, PMID:3350994