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Pharmacokinetics of metronidazole in horses after intravenous, rectal and oral administration
Author(s) -
STEINMAN A.,
GIPS M.,
LAVY E.,
SINAY I.,
SOBACK S.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of veterinary pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.527
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1365-2885
pISSN - 0140-7783
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2885.2000.00294.x
Subject(s) - metronidazole , bioavailability , pharmacokinetics , volume of distribution , crossover study , oral administration , medicine , pharmacology , absorption (acoustics) , rectal administration , drug administration , antibiotics , chemistry , biochemistry , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , acoustics , placebo
Metronidazole pharmacokinetics in horses was studied after intravenous (i.v.), rectal (p.r.) and oral (p.o.) administration at 20 mg/kg using a triple crossover study design. Metronidazole mean±SD half‐life was 196±39, 212±30 and 240±65 min after i.v., p.r. and p.o. administration, respectively. The metronidazole clearance was 2.8 (mL/min/kg) and the volume of distribution at steady state was 0.68 L/kg. The pharmacokinetic parameters calculated for metronidazole after administration of the drug by the various routes showed that bioavailability (74±18 vs. 30±9%) and maximum serum concentration (22±8 vs. 9±2 μg/mL) were significantly higher after p.o. administration compared with p.r. administration. There were no significant differences in mean absorption time (45±69 vs. 66±18 min) and the time to reach maximum serum concentration (65±36 vs. 58±18 min). The results indicated that p.r. administration of metronidazole to horses, although inferior to p.o. administration in terms of bioavailability, provides an alternative route of administration when p.o. administration cannot be used.