Cardiovascular observations in canine intravenous pefloxacin therapy

Despite their extensive use in microbial therapy, fluoroquinolones have been flagged for safety concerns, which has led to the failure or withdrawal of many promising drugs. Studies have shown that some fluoroquinolones prolong the QT segment, leading to Torsades de pointes (TDP), a polymorphic ventricular arrhythmia. In this study, we simulated the clinical effect of a single intravenous administration of pefloxacin on the Lead‐II electrocardiogram and blood pressure measurements in dogs. Fifteen healthy male dogs were randomly divided into 3 groups. Group I was designated as the control while groups II and III received a single dose of pefloxacin at 5mg/kg and 10mg/kg body weight, respectively. Blood pressure, respiratory rate, and electrocardiographic parameters were recorded before administration and subsequently at 5min, 30min, 1hr, 3hr, 6hr, 12hr, and 24hrs post administration of the drug. At the 5mg/kg dose, heart rate, QT, QTc (Bazett), and QTc (Fridericia) were unchanged when compared with pre‐administration and control values. Similarly, there were no statistically significant differences in blood pressure between the groups. Increasing the dosage to 10mg/kg however caused tachycardia and QT prolongation alongside significant increases in blood pressure between groups. In conclusion, pefloxacin appears to show a dose‐dependent alteration in cardiovascular parameters in dogs. Support or Funding Information ‐Nil‐Systolic blood pressure across groupsDiastolic blood pressure across groupsMean arterial pressure across groupsElectrocardiograph tracing in the 10mg/kg groupThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .