title: Drug Combinations: Tests and Analysis with Isoboles.
abstract: Described in this unit are experimental and computational methods to detect and classify drug interactions. In most cases, this relates to two drugs or compounds with overtly similar effects, e.g., two analgesics or two anti-hypertensives. From the dose-response data of the individual drugs, it is possible to generate a curve, the isobole, which defines all dose combinations that are expected to yield a specified effect. The theory underlying the isobole involves the calculation of doses of drug A that are effectively equivalent to doses of drug B with that equivalence determining whether the isobole is linear or nonlinear. In either case, the isobole allows for a comparison with actual combination effects making it possible to determine whether the interaction is synergistic, additive, or sub-additive. Actual as well as illustrative data are employed to demonstrate experimental design and data analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Center on Substance Abuse Research, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.|Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Ronald J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Tallarida
mesh_terms: D032761:Animal Experimentation; D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004347:Drug Interactions; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012107:Research Design
chemical_list: D004338:Drug Combinations; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations
keywords: additivity; drug synergism; sub-additivity