What are the differences between first pass effect and enterohepatic circulation?
Daniel Kim
Updated on May 21, 2026
The first-pass effect describes inactivation of a drug during the first liver passage. The enterohepatic circulation is a cyclic process of biliary elimination and consequent intestinal reabsorption of a drug.
What is the process of enterohepatic circulation?
Enterohepatic circulation refers to the process whereby a drug or a metastable metabolite thereof in the liver is secreted into the bile, stored in the gall bladder, and subsequently released into the small intestine, where the drug can be reabsorbed back into circulation and subsequently returned to the liver.
How can enterohepatic circulation affect half life?
Enterohepatic circulation increases the elimination half-life of many drugs (thus prolonging their action) and causes multiple peaks in the plasma drug concentration-time profile, which are frequently elusive in terms of pharmacokinetic modeling.
How are bile salts recycled through the enterohepatic circulation?
Approximately 94% of the bile salts are reabsorbed at special mucosal receptor sites in the distal ileum and reused by the liver by the process of enterohepatic circulation. In enterohepatic circulation, compounds secreted in bile are reabsorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and returned to the liver.
What happens in first pass metabolism?
The first pass effect (also known as first-pass metabolism or presystemic metabolism) is a phenomenon of drug metabolism whereby the concentration of a drug, specifically when administered orally, is greatly reduced before it reaches the systemic circulation.
What do you mean by enterohepatic circulation?
[ ĕn′tə-rō-hĭ-păt′ĭk ] n. Circulation of substances such as bile salts, which are absorbed from the intestine and carried to the liver, where they are secreted into the bile and again enter the intestine.
How increased enterohepatic circulation causes jaundice?
A factor in human milk increases the enterohepatic circulation of bilirubin. Insufficient caloric intake resulting from maternal and/or infant breastfeeding difficulties may also increase serum unconjugated bilirubin concentrations. This is the infantile equivalent of adult starvation jaundice.
What is the enterohepatic circulation of bile?
The term enterohepatic circulation (EHC) denotes the movement of bile acid molecules from the liver to the small intestine and back to the liver. Bile acids traverse the hepatocyte and are actively secreted into canalicular bile, completing the enterohepatic cycle.
What is first pass metabolism and what is its importance?
Which organ is responsible for first pass metabolism?
The first-pass effect can occur in the gastrointestinal tract, the liver and lung. Although the liver is the main drug metabolizing organ in the body, the gut wall can play an important role in the first-pass metabolism of certain drugs.
What is the difference between enterohepatic cycling and first pass metabolism?
It reduces the amount of active drug that gets into the general circulation. This is first-pass metabolism. Enterohepatic cycling is where: Unmetabolized drugs as well as drug metabolites go through the liver and biliary tract for excretion and proceed to make their way out of the body through the intestinal tract.
What is first pass metabolism?
First pass metabolism is what occurs when a drug is absorbed from the GI tract. When a drug is taken orally it is absorbed into the portal circulation (the blood vessels of the liver). Many of these drugs are very efficiently metabolized (altered for elimination) as they pass through the portal circulation during this first time.
What is hepatic first pass and enterohepatic recycling?
Hepatic First pass & Enterohepatic Recycling…. When a drug is taken orally it is absorbed into the portal circulation (the blood vessels of the liver). Many of these drugs are very efficiently metabolized (altered for elimination) as they pass through the portal circulation during this first time.
How does enterohepatic recirculation work?
Enterohepatic recirculation. Drugs entering the intestinal tract may be absorbed into the portal circulation where they can be removed from systemic circulation by hepatic uptake. The compound may then be excreted into the bile and pass back into the intestinal tract and become available for enterohepatic cycling.