# Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics Core

> **NIH NIH P01** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2022 · $333,000

## Abstract

PK/PD Core Summary
 The overall aims of this integrated P01 proposal are to advance fundamental understanding and
provide clinical translation of oxytocin’s actions in the periphery and in the central nervous system as they
relate to sensory processing and recovery from tissue injury, including surgery.
 The three goals of this program project are 1) to determine oxytocin pharmacokinetics (relationship
between dose and concentration) and pharmacodynamics (relationship between concentration and drug effect)
in rats and humans, 2) characterize the mechanisms of oxytocin actions on acute pain and sensitization at
peripheral and central sites, and 3) determine the central and peripheral actions of oxytocin on recovery after
tissue injury (e.g., surgery). Each of these goals is predicated on precise measurement of oxytocin dose and
concentration, construction of mathematical models relating blood oxytocin concentration to oxytocin dose and
route of delivery, and construction of mathematical models relating oxytocin concentration to drug effect. The
first goal comprises measuring oxytocin dose, concentration, and effect, and developing mathematical models
of these fundamental relationships. This is the critical analysis that brings new scientific rigor to the second and
third aims, because we will use the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic models to give oxytocin in a
manner that facilitates rigorous exploration of the dose – concentration – drug response relationship for both
acute pain and sensitization (goal 2) and speed of recovery (goal 3) for both peripheral and central sites
(differentiated by leveraging differences in peripheral and central pharmacokinetics to target each site
experimentally).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10332262
- **Project number:** 1P01NS119159-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Steven Louis Shafer
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $333,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-04-15 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10332262

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10332262, Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics Core (1P01NS119159-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10332262. Licensed CC0.

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