An apparatus utilizing liquid turbulence to simulate hydrodynamic conditions generated by gastrointestinal peristalsis was designed to estimate drug release from solid oral dosage forms. This turbulence was achieved through special arrangement of a pipetting pump to a dissolution chamber. By adjusting the flow rate of the pump to deliver and withdraw a fixed volume of dissolution medium per minute, a correlation was developed between dissolution rates and absorption patterns in beagles of two commercial tolbutamide tablets, A and B, and a micronized tolbutamide suspension. On the basis of this relationship, it was possible to predict the initial absorption patterns of two misformulated tablets, C and D.