tissue selectivity

{{Short description|Disproportionate drug concentrations in differing tissues}}

Tissue selectivity is a topic in distribution (pharmacology) and property of some drugs. It refers to when a drug occurs in disproportionate concentrations and/or has disproportionate effects in specific tissues relative to other tissues.{{cite book|last=Zweten|title=Antihypertensive Drugs|date=5 September 1997|publisher=CRC Press|language=en|isbn=9789057021220|page=345|quote=The term “tissue selectivity” is used for an agent showing varying degrees of potency between tissues, with a preferential action in a given one.}} An example of such drugs are selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERM) like tamoxifen, which show estrogenic effects in some tissues and antiestrogenic effects in other tissues. Another example is peripherally-selective drugs, which do not cross the blood-brain-barrier into the central nervous system and hence are tissue-selective for the periphery.