Pharmacokinetics of methocarbamol and phenylbutazone in exercised Thoroughbred horses.

Methocarbamol (MCBL) is commonly used in performance horses for the treatment of skeletal muscle disorders. Current regulatory recommendations for show horses and racehorses are based on a single oral dose of 5 g, although doses in excess of this are often administered. The goal of the current study was to characterize the disposition of MCBL following higher dose administration and administration in combination with another commonly used drug in performance horses, phenylbutazone (PBZ). Exercised Thoroughbred horses were administered various doses of MCBL as a sole agent and MCBL in combination with PBZ. Blood samples were collected at various times, concentrations of MCBL and PBZ measured using LC-MS/MS and pharmacokinetic parameters calculated using compartmental analysis. Following administration of 15 g of MCBL, either as part of a single- or multiple-dose regimen, a number of horses exceeded the Association of Racing Commissioners International and the United States Equestrian Federation's recommended regulatory threshold at the recommended withdrawal time. There was not a significant difference between horses that received only MCBL and those that received MCBL and PBZ. Results of the current study support an extended withdrawal guideline when doses in excess of 5 g are administered.

The pharmacokinetics of methocarbamol and guaifenesin after single intravenous and multiple-dose oral administration of methocarbamol in the horse.

A simple LC/MSMS method has been developed and fully validated to determine concentrations and characterize the concentration vs. time course of methocarbamol (MCBL) and guaifenesin (GGE) in plasma after a single intravenous dose and multiple oral dose administrations of MCBL to conditioned Thoroughbred horses. The plasma concentration-time profiles for MCBL after a single intravenous dose of 15 mg/kg of MCBL were best described by a three-compartment model. Mean extrapolated peak (C0 ) plasma concentrations were 23.2 (± 5.93) µg/mL. Terminal half-life, volume of distribution at steady-state, mean residence time, and systemic clearance were characterized by a median (range) of 2.96 (2.46-4.71) h, 1.05 (0.943-1.21) L/kg, 1.98 (1.45-2.51) h, and 8.99 (6.68-10.8) mL/min/kg, respectively. Oral dose of MCBL was characterized by a median (range) terminal half-life, mean transit time, mean absorption time, and apparent oral clearance of 2.89 (2.21-4.88) h, 2.67 (1.80-2.87) h, 0.410 (0.350-0.770) h, and 16.5 (13.0-20) mL/min/kg. Bioavailability of orally administered MCBL was characterized by a median (range) of 54.4 (43.2-72.8)%. Guaifenesin plasma concentrations were below the limit of detection in all samples collected after the single intravenous dose of MCBL whereas they were detected for up to 24 h after the last dose of the multiple-dose oral regimen. This difference may be attributed to first-pass metabolism of MCBL to GGE after oral administration and may provide a means of differentiating the two routes of administration.

Simultaneous determination of paracetamol and methocarbamol in human plasma By HPLC using UV detection with time programming: application to pharmacokinetic study.

BACKGROUND: A combination of methocarbamol (MET) and paracetamol (PAR) is a widely used treatment approach. It provides complementary modes of action for treatment of pain associated with muscle spasm. The aim of this work was to develop and validate a new sensitive and reproducible isocratic reversed phase HPLC-UV detection method for simultaneous determination of MET and PAR in human plasma for the routine use in a therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacokinetic laboratories. METHODS: A simple HPLC assay was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of the above-mentioned drugs in small samples of human plasma (0.25 mL). After protein precipitation with methanol, satisfactory separation was achieved on a Hypersil® BDS C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) using a mobile phase comprising 20 mM sodium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (pH=3) and methanol at a ratio of 80:20, v/v; the elution was isocratic at ambient temperature with a flow rate of 1.2 ml/min. The UV detector was programmed at 254 nm for 7.0 min to measure PAR and IS and at 272 nm for the subsequent 3 min to measure MET. RESULTS: Linearity was demonstrated over the concentration range from 0.02 to 20 µg/ml (mean R(2) = 0.9998, n = 10). The observed within- and between-day assay precision ranged from 1.11 to 9.4 and 2.46 to 10.0% for PAR and MET, respectively; whereas, accuracy varied between 95.2-101% and 93.9-102.2% for PAR and MET, respectively. Mean drug recovery was 99.8 for PAR and 99.0% for MET. PAR and MET were stable in frozen plasma over a period of 3 months at -80 °C. CONCLUSIONS: The validated method was applied successfully to a bioequivalence study of PAR/MET (500/400 mg) fixed dose combination tablet in healthy volunteers (n=24).

Bioequivalence study with two different oral formulations of methocarbamol in healthy subjects. A mono-centre, comparative, randomized, open-label, single-dose, 2-way crossover study.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetic profile of a new oral methocarbamol (CAS 532-03-6) formulation (DoloVisano Methocarbamol 750 mg Tabletten) to that of a registered reference product and to demonstrate the bioequivalence of the formulations with respect to rate and extent of methocarbamol exposure. METHOD: This bioequivalence trial was based on an open-label, single-dose, randomized, two-treatment, two-period crossover design. In each period 32 male or female healthy white volunteers received 2 tablets (2 x 750 mg methocarbamol) of either the test (a) or the reference (b) product after an overnight fasting of at least 12 h. Breakfast was served 4 h after dosing. The two treatment sequences were separated by a wash-out phase of 6 days. Blood samples were drawn prior to the first single administration and at 20 time points over 16 h thereafter, in order to create a pharmacokinetic profile. Adverse events were recorded at predefined time points during the study period. RESULTS: After a single dose of 1 500 mg methocarbamol the extent of exposure as well as the exposure rate for the test and the reference product were in good agreement. The extent of exposure in terms of AUC(0-infinity) amounted to 58.43 microg/ml h for the test product and to 58.21 microg/ml x h (geometric means) for the reference. C(max) reached values of 23.71 microg/ml for test and 23.32 microg/ml (geometric means) for the reference. The ratio and the 90% confidence intervals of AUC(0-tz) (a/b: 100.38% [95.08%- 105.96%]) and of C(max) (a/b: 101.68% [91.68%-112.77%]) lay well within the predefined acceptance range of 80-125%. These results strongly indicate that the formulations tested are bioequivalent and therefore exchangeable. During the study neither unexpected nor severe or serious adverse events were reported. Likewise there were no clinically relevant findings with respect to vital signs and ECG. CONCLUSION: In this study bioequivalence could be demonstrated with respect to rate and extent of methocarbamol exposure.

High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of methocarbamol enantiomers in biological fluids.

Methocarbamol enantiomers in rat and human plasma were quantified using a stereospecific high-performance liquid chromatographic method. Racemic methocarbamol and internal standard, (R)-(-)-flecainide, were isolated from plasma by a single-step extraction with ethyl acetate. After derivatization with the enantiomerically pure reagent (S)-(+)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethyl isocyanate, methocarbamol diastereomers and the (R)-flecainide derivative were separated on a normal-phase silica column with a mobile phase consisting of hexane-isopropanol (95:5, v/v) at a flow-rate of 1.6 ml/min. Ultraviolet detection was carried out at a wavelength of 280 nm. The resolution factor between the diastereomers was 2.1 (alpha = 1.24). An excellent linearity was observed between the methocarbamol diastereomers/internal standard derivative peak-area ratios and plasma concentrations, and the intra- and inter-day coefficients of variation were always < 9.8%. The lowest quantifiable concentration was 0.5 microgram/ml for each enantiomer (coefficients of variation of 9.8 and 8.8% for (S)- and (R)-methocarbamol, respectively), while the limit of detection (signal-to-noise ratio 3:1) was approximately 10 ng/ml. The assay was used to study the pharmacokinetics of methocarbamol enantiomers in a rat following intravenous administration of a 120 mg/kg dose of racemic methocarbamol and to evaluate plasma and urine concentrations in a human volunteer after oral administration of a 1000-mg dose of the racemate. The method is suitable for stereoselective pharmacokinetic studies in humans as well as in animal models.

The pharmacology and pharmacokinetics of high-dose methocarbamol in horses.

The haemodynamic, respiratory and behavioural effects and pharmacokinetics of methocarbamol were studied in eight healthy, adult horses after intravenous (i.v.) and oral administration of large dosages. Heart rate, cardiac output, mean pulmonary arterial blood pressure, systolic, diastolic and mean aortic blood pressure, respiratory rate and arterial blood gases did not change after either i.v. (30 mg/kg bodyweight [bwt]) or oral (50 and 100 mg/kg bwt) dosages of methocarbamol. Mild to moderate depression was observed in five of eight horses administered i.v. methocarbamol, and in all horses administered oral methocarbamol. Plasma methocarbamol concentration declined very rapidly during the initial or rapid disposition phase after i.v. administration; the terminal elimination half-life ranged from 59 to 90 mins. Peak plasma methocarbamol concentrations following oral administration occurred within 15 to 45 mins and oral bioavailability ranged from 50.7 to 124 percent.

Pharmacokinetics and protein binding of methocarbamol in renal insufficiency and normals.

We determined plasma methocarbamol concentrations over 24 h following a 1.5 g methocarbamol dose (off-dialysis day) to 8 chronic haemodialysis patients and compared these results to those from 17 healthy male volunteers. The harmonic mean elimination half-life was similar between the two groups, 1.24 and 1.14 h, respectively. tmax and the weight-adjusted Cmax were 1.1 h and 27.0 mg.m-1 for haemodialysis patients and 1.1 and 23.1 mg.l-1 for normals. Relative systemic availability was assessed by comparing weight-normalized AUC x k10 products. These results indicate no significant differences with respect to methocarbamol absorption, with the relative systemic availability in patients being 113%. These data suggest that absorption and elimination of methocarbamol is similar between normal subjects and patients undergoing maintenance haemodialysis.

Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of methocarbamol in rats.

In a pharmacokinetic study, 15, 30, 60, and 150 mg kg-1 intravenous and oral doses of methocarbamol were administered to rats. Differences observed in plasma clearance values, i.e. 0.0203, 0.0156, 0.0123, and 0.0085 1 kg-1 min-1 for 15, 30, 60, and 150 mg kg-1, respectively, suggested a dose-dependent pharmacokinetic behaviour of the drug. Elimination according to a biocompartmental open model and Michaelis-Menten kinetics fits the plasma level data. Estimated Km and Vmax values were 38.49 +/- 3.71 mg l-1 and 1.24 +/- 0.06 mg l-1 min-1, respectively. After oral administration of 15, 30, and 60 mg kg-1 the peak plasma levels were reached earlier. The tmax values were 6, 6, and 10 min, respectively. After 150 mg kg-1 oral doses, peak plasma levels were reached later (tmax = 150 min). Estimated bioavailability ranged between 77 and 112 per cent.