Some pharmacokinetic parameters of doxycycline in East African goats after intramuscular administration of a long-acting formulation

A compartmental and non-compartmental study was carried out on five adult goats following intramuscular administration of doxycycline at 20 mg/kg bodyweight. The concentration of the drug in serum was determined by a microbiological assay employingBacillus cereus varmycoides (ATCC 11778) as the test organism. The mean serum concentration (C _max) and the time of maximum concentration (T _max) were 1.87 µg/ml and 0.85 h, respectively. Using compartmental analysis, the plasma concentration-time curve of doxycycline best fitted a three-compartment open model with first-order absorption. A three-phase disposition of doxycycline was found, the terminal elimination half-life being approximately 40 h.The statistical moment theory was mainly used for non-compartmental analysis. The value obtained for the mean residence time (MRT) was 16.41 h. The mean values for the volume of distribution at steady state (V _dss), determined by compartmental and non-compartmental analyses, were 8.73 and 13.19 L/kg, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences when the major pharmacokinetic parameters were compared.It was concluded that the pharmacokinetic behaviour of doxycycline in goats after intramuscular administration is characterized by a three-compartment model with a slow terminal elimination phase. Based on current knowledge, this could be due to enterohepatic recycling and/or flip-flop kinetics. The study indicated that a single intramuscular administration of 20 mg/kg of doxycycline may only provide therapeutic concentrations for up to 24 h owing to slow absorption at the injection site.Abbreviations ATCC American Type Culture Collection - AVC total area under the plasma concentration-time curve - AUMC area under the curve of the product from time zero to infinity - C1 total body clearance - i.m. intramuscular - i.v. intravenous - MRT mean residence time - MIC minimum inhibitory concentration - PVP polyvinyl pyrolidone - V_d volume of distribution - V _dss volume of distribution at steady state