Estimation of pharmacokinetic parameters of alpha-lipoic acid in the chicks model

Background and objective: Alpha-lipoic acid is a drug used to treat diabetic neuropathy, and it has other uses as a dietary supplement. The target of the study was to investigate the concentration of therapeutic doses of Alpha-lipoic acid in the blood plasma of broiler chicks to define the pharmacokinetic parameters.Methods: A randomized controlled study was performed on thirty-five healthy broiler chicks of seven days old, chicks were injected into the peritoneum with a single dose of analgesic ED50 80mg /kg b.wt, following injection of the drug, blood samples were collected at 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 24 h (five chicks per time) from the jugular vein. Then the  blood plasma was obtained, the concentrations of Alpha-lipoic acid  in blood  plasma samples were determined utilizing UV Spectrometric Method, the pharmacokinetic parameters were determined by the PKSolver program. Time versus concentration curve for Alpha-lipoic acid was obtained from the program. The pharmacokinetic parameters were determined with non-compartmental models.Results: The concentration of Alpha-lipoic acid  in the blood plasma of chicks injected with Alpha lipoic at a dose (80 mg/kg) were 134.6±7.17, 178.5±4.10 ,192.4±7.83  ,158.5±11.05  ,147.1±10.16, 122.8±7.09  µg/ml at times   0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 24 hours respectively. The maximum plasma concentration was 192.4µg/ml during a period of 1 hour of injection. The terminal elimination half-life was 65hours, the terminal phase elimination rate constant was 0.011 h-1 , the mean residence time was 94h, and the area under the curve from time 0 to infinity was 14960 µg.h/ml.Conclusions:  Our study concluded that the peak of the analgesic effect of alpha lipoic acid was one hour after treatment; furthermore, it is characterized by a long elimination half-life and a poor clearance from the chick’s body, which is reflected in the long effects of its pharmacological properties