Pharmacokinetics, bioavailability, and excretion of ponazuril in piglets.

Ponazuril is a triazine anticoccidial drug which is the main metabolite of toltrazuril in animals, it has excellent activity against many protozoa, including Cystoisospora suis, and has broad application prospects in the control of swine coccidiosis. To evaluate the pharmacokinetic and excretion characteristics of ponazuril, 12 healthy piglets aged 10-14 days were divided into 2 groups for pharmacokinetic studies, which were given 20 mg/kg body weight ponazuril orally and intravenously, respectively. And 6 other piglets were housed individually in metabolic cages and given the same oral dose of ponazuril. After administration, the concentration of ponazuril in plasma, fecal, and urine samples collected was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The plasma concentration profiles of ponazuril obtained after intravenous and oral administration were analyzed simultaneously by the nonlinear mixed-effects (NLME) model. Following the results, the pharmacokinetics of ponazuril exhibited a Michaelis-Menten elimination with Michaelis-Menten constant Km and maximum metabolic rate Vm of 10.8 µg/mL and 0.083 mg/kg/h. The apparent volume of distribution was calculated to be 735 mL/kg, and the final estimated oral bioavailability was 81%. Besides, cumulatively 86.42 ± 2.96% of ponazuril was recovered from feces and 0.31% ± 0.08% from urine during 0-1,020 h after oral administration. These findings indicated a good oral absorption of ponazuril in piglets with nonlinear disposition and slow excretion largely via feces, implying sustained drug concentration in vivo and long-lasting anticoccidial effects.

Blood clearance kinetics and organ delivery of medium-chain triglyceride and fish oil-containing lipid emulsions: Comparing different animal species.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Medium-chain triglycerides (TG) (MCT) and fish oil (FO) TG are incorporated as the core TG component into intravenous (IV) lipid emulsions for infusion in parenteral nutrition. Bolus injections of IV emulsions, on the other hand, have emerged as a novel therapeutic approach to treat various acute disorders. However, intravascular metabolism and organ delivery of acute IV injection of emulsions containing both MCT and FO are not fully defined, nor have they been characterized across common experimental animal models. We characterized and compared blood clearance kinetics and organ distribution of bolus injections of MCT/FO emulsions among different animal species. We also examined whether sex differences or feeding status can affect catabolic properties of MCT/FO lipid emulsions. DESIGN: Blood clearance rates of lipid emulsions with specific TG composition were compared in rats IV injected with [3H]cholesteryl hexadecyl ether labeled pure n-6 long-chain (LCT) and n-3 FO TG lipid emulsions, or emulsions containing MCT and FO at different ratios (wt/wt), which include 8:2 (80% MCT: 20% FO), 5:4:1 (50% MCT: 40% LCT: 10% FO) and SMOF (30% LCT: 30% MCT: 25% olive oil: 10% FO). Dose-response effects (0.016 mg-1.6 mg TG/g body weight) of the MCT/FO 8:2 emulsions on blood clearance properties and organ delivery were determined in both mice and rats. Blood clearance kinetics and organ uptake of MCT/FO 8:2 emulsions were compared between male and female rats and between fed and fasted rats. Changes in plasma lipid profiles after acute injections of MCT/FO 8:2 lipid emulsion at different doses (0.043, 0.133, and 0.4 mg TG/g body weight) were characterized in non-human primates (Cynomolgus monkeys). RESULTS: MCT/FO 8:2 emulsion was cleared faster in rats when compared with other emulsions with different TG contents. Mice had faster blood clearance and higher fractional catabolic rates (FCR) when compared with the rats injected with MCT/FO 8:2 emulsions regardless of the injected doses. Mice and rats had similar plasma TG and free fatty acid (FFA) levels after low- or high-dose injections of the MCT/FO emulsion. Tissue distribution of the MCT/FO 8:2 lipid emulsion are comparable between mice and rats, where liver had the highest uptake per recovered dose among all organs (>60%). Feeding status and sex differences did not alter the blood clearance rate of the MCT/FO 8:2 emulsion in rats. In a nonhuman primate model, dose-response increases in plasma TG and FFA were observed after IV injection of MCT/FO 8:2 emulsions within the 1st 10 min. CONCLUSION: A lipid emulsion containing both MCT and FO TG is cleared rapidly in blood and readily available for organ uptake in rodent and primate animal models. Characterization of the blood clearance properties of the MCT/FO 8:2 emulsion administered in various animal models may provide further insight into the safety and efficacy profiles for future therapeutic use of bolus injections of MCT/FO emulsions in humans.

Emergence of ciprofloxacin heteroresistance in foodborne Salmonella enterica serovar Agona.

BACKGROUND: Bacterial heteroresistance has been increasingly identified as an important phenomenon for many antibiotic/bacterium combinations. OBJECTIVES: To investigate ciprofloxacin heteroresistance in Salmonella and characterize mechanisms contributing to ciprofloxacin heteroresistance. METHODS: Ciprofloxacin-heteroresistant Salmonella were identified by population analysis profiling (PAP). Target mutations and the presence of PMQR genes were detected using PCR and sequencing. Expression of acrB, acrF and qnrS was conducted by quantitative RT-PCR. Competition ability and virulence were also compared using pyrosequencing, blue/white screening, adhesion and invasion assays and a Galleria model. Two subpopulations were whole-genome sequenced using Oxford Nanopore and Illumina platforms. RESULTS: PAP identified one Salmonella from food that yielded a subpopulation demonstrating heteroresistance to ciprofloxacin at a low frequency (10-9 to 10-7). WGS and PFGE analyses confirmed that the two subpopulations were isogenic, with six SNPs and two small deletions distinguishing the resistant from the susceptible. Both subpopulations possessed a T57S substitution in ParC and carried qnrS. The resistant subpopulation was distinguished by overexpression of acrB and acrF, a deletion within rsxC and altered expression of soxS. The resistant population had a competitive advantage against the parental population when grown in the presence of bile salts but was attenuated in the adhesion and invasion of human intestinal cells. CONCLUSIONS: We determined that heteroresistance resulted from a combination of mutations in fluoroquinolone target genes and overexpression of efflux pumps associated with a deletion in rsxC. This study warns that ciprofloxacin heteroresistance exists in Salmonella in the food chain and highlights the necessity for careful interpretation of antibiotic susceptibility.

Single dose pharmacokinetics of terbinafine in cats.

The pharmacokinetics of terbinafine was studied in six healthy fasted cats following a single intravenous and oral administration at a dose of 10 mg/kg and 30 mg/kg, respectively, according to a two-period crossover design. Plasma terbinafine concentrations were determined using a reverse phase liquid chromatographic method. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by non-compartmental analysis with WinNonlin 5.2.1 software. After intravenous administration, the terminal half-life and area under the curve from time 0 to infinity were 10.40 ± 4.56 h, 15.20 ± 3.61 h·µg/ml, respectively. After oral dosing, the mean maximum concentration was 3.22 ± 0.60 µg/ml, reached at 1.33 ± 0.41 h. The terminal half-life, area under the curve from time 0 to infinity and apparent volume of distribution were 8.01 ± 3.46 h, 13.77 ± 4.99 h·µg/ml, 25.63 ± 6.29 l/kg, respectively. The absolute bioavailability of terbinafine hydrochloride tablets after oral administration was 31.00 ± 10.85%. Although bioavailability was low, excellent penetration at the site of infection and low minimum inhibitory concentrations values provided terbinafine with good efficacy against dermatophyte infections.

Determination of residual clopidol in chicken muscle by capillary gas chromatography-negative chemical ionization-mass spectrometry.

A selective, sensitive gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method with negative chemical ionization (NCI) was developed for the detection and quantification of clopidol in chicken muscle. Chicken muscle samples were extracted with acetonitrile and concentrated to dryness; the residue was redissolved in ethyl acetate and applied to an Alumina B cartridge for cleanup. The residue was derivatized with Sylon BFT and analyzed by GC-NCI-MS. The selected-ion monitoring mode was performed at m/z values of 156, 158, 191, and 193. The differences in the ratios for the standards and spikes in chicken muscle were within the acceptability criteria. All recoveries of the drug from chicken muscle spiked at 0.5, 5.0 and 50.0 microg/kg were 74.5-95.6% intra-day, and 71.6-94.8% inter-day, respectively, with relative standard deviations being lower than 15%. The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.1 and 0.5 microg/kg, respectively. The NCI mode had better selectivity and sensitivity than the electron impact (EI) mode for clopidol.

[Determination of clopidol residues in chicken muscle by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry].

A confirmative method to determine clopidol residues in chicken muscle by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed. The analyte was extracted with ace tonitrile, and then purified with an Alumina-B cartridge column. The drug was derived at 80 degrees 3 for 60 min with Sylon BFT, and more toluene was added and then applied to GC-MS. The mass spectral characteristics of trimethylsilyl derivative of clopidol were interpreted, and selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode was performed at m/z 212, 214, 248 and 263. The clopidol was qualitatively identified by the ratio of relative abundance of the selected ions and determined quantitatively by SIM mode at m/z 248. In the meantime, the matrix effect was evaluated. The range of linearity was 5.0 - 500 microg/L with the correlation coefficients better than 0.998, and the detection limit was 0.5 microg/kg (S/N = 3) for clopidol. The average recoveries from chicken muscle fortified at 5, 10 and 20 microg/kg were 77.0%, 84.5% and 89.4%, respectively, and the relative standard deviations (RSD) were less than 6.9%. The established method is simple, sensitive and reproducible for the identification and quantification of clopidol residues in chicken muscle tissue.