Area Under the Curve (AUC)

Types

Type	Description	Application
${\text{AUC}}_{\text{last}}$	Area under the concentration-time curve up to the last measurable concentration.	Used to determine the total exposure of the body to the drug until the last measurable concentration.
${\text{AUC}}_{0\to \infty }$	Represents the total area under the concentration-time curve from administration to infinity.	Provides an estimate of the total exposure of the body to a drug. Useful for evaluating the overall efficacy of a drug.
${\text{AUC}}_{0\to t}$	Area under the concentration-time curve from the administration up to a specific time 't'.	Useful for focusing on drug exposure within specific time windows.
${\text{AUC}}_{0\to 24}$	Area under the concentration-time curve from administration up to 24 hours.	Often used when drugs are administered once a day.
${\text{AUC}}_{\tau }$	Area under the concentration-time curve over a dosing interval 'tau', for example in repeated dosing every 12 or 24 hours.	Helpful in evaluating steady-state pharmacokinetics in multiple dosing regimens.
${\text{AUC}}_{\text{micro}}$	Utilizes microdosing studies and mass spectrometric analyses to determine the AUC for drugs administered in very low concentrations.	Suitable for studying the pharmacokinetics of drugs at subtherapeutic, micro-level doses.