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Pharmacokinetics and sedative effects of intramuscular medetomidine in domestic sheep
Author(s) -
Kästner S. B. R.,
Wapf P.,
Feige K.,
Demuth D.,
Bettschart Wolfensberger R.,
Akens M. K.,
Huhtinen M.
Publication year - 2003
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.1365-2885.2003.00492.x
Subject(s) - sedation , pharmacokinetics , medetomidine , volume of distribution , anesthesia , sedative , medicine , absorption (acoustics) , arterial blood , dosing , propofol , intramuscular injection , pharmacology , blood pressure , heart rate , physics , acoustics
Intramuscular (i.m.) administration of medetomidine (MED) may avoid the severe pressor effects caused by peripheral actions of MED associated with intravenous (i.v.) dosing. The purpose of this study was to determine the pharmacokinetics, the time course of sedation and occurence of hypoxaemia after i.m. administration of MED in domestic sheep. The MED was injected i.m. at a dose of 30 μg/kg in nine domestic sheep. Blood was sampled at 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 120, 180, 240, 360 and 600 min after MED. Sedation was assessed and arterial blood samples were taken before and 35 min after MED application. Mean (SD) pharmacokinetic parameters of i.m. MED were: absorption half‐life: 13.2 (7.5) min; terminal half‐life: 32.7 (14.9) min; time to peak concentration: 29.2 (8.9) min; peak concentration: 4.98 (1.89) ng/mL; volume of distribution: 3.9 (2.4) l/kg; total body clearance: 81.0 (21.5) mL/(min kg). Peak sedation occurred between 30 and 40 min after injection of MED. The degree of sedation correlated with individual plasma concentrations ( r S : 0.926). One animal became hypoxaemic (PaO 2 = 54.1 mmHg).