Pharmacokinetics of two long-acting oxytetracycline products administered subcutaneously and intramuscularly

Modelling Shows the Negative Impact of Age Dependent Pharmacokinetics on the Efficacy of Oxytetracycline in Young Steers

The effect of age dependent pharmacokinetics (PK) on the clinical efficacy of oxytetracycline (OTC) against Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) in beef cattle was studied, using a Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model. The model includes a bodyweight dependent renal clearance. To mimic/reproduce the long terminal half-live a bone forming tissue compartment was considered. Data for the development, calibration and validation of the model were obtained from public literature. To integrate the PK with the pharmacodynamics (PD) of OTC, Monte Carlo simulations were performed using this PBPK model to predict time-concentration curves for two commonly used dosing regimens of short-acting and long-acting injectable OTC formulations in virtual populations of 5,000 steer calves of 100 kg and 400 kg. These curves were then used to calculate the value of the PKPD index for OTC, which is the ratio of the area under the concentration-time curve for 24 h (AUC_24h) over the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the target pathogen (AUC_24h/MIC). The MIC values were for Mannheimia haemolytica, the dose-limiting pathogen for BRD. This integration of PBPK and PD for OTC used for the treatment of BRD in calves indicated that the Probability of Target Attainment (PTA) was sufficient for efficacy in calves of 400 kg, but insufficient for calves of 100 kg, when using a long acting dosing regimen of 20 mg/kg BW, twice, with a 48-h interval. The use of a dosing regimen of 10 mg/kg BW/day for 4 days predicted sufficient PTAs in both age groups.

Safety and Efficacy of the East Coast Fever Muguga Cocktail Vaccine: A Systematic Review

Immunisation of livestock with high quality vaccines is considered an essential approach to controlling many animal diseases. The only currently available commercial vaccine to protect cattle from East Coast fever (ECF), a tick-borne disease caused by Theileria parva, is an unconventional “infection and treatment method” (ITM) involving administration of a combination of live T. parva isolates, referred to as the “Muguga cocktail”, and simultaneous treatment with long-acting oxytetracycline. Veterinary vaccine research and development typically involves studies designed to demonstrate vaccine quality, safety, and efficacy; however, as there were no such purpose-designed registration studies conducted for the Muguga cocktail, evidence for safety and efficacy is solely based on that which is available in the clinical literature. An extensive systematic review was conducted to analyse the evidence available in the literature in order to establish the safety and efficacy of the Muguga cocktail vaccine. A combination of meta-analyses and narrative summaries was conducted. A total of 61 studies met the criteria to be included in the systematic review. The majority of studies demonstrated or reported in favour of the vaccine with regards to safety and efficacy of the Muguga cocktail vaccine. Proximity to buffalo often resulted in reduced vaccine efficacy, and reports of shed and transmission of vaccine components affected the overall interpretation of safety. Better understanding of control options for this devastating livestock disease is important for policymakers and livestock keepers, enabling them to make informed decisions with regards to the health of their animals and their livelihoods.

Ocular penetration of oral doxycycline in the horse

OBJECTIVE

To investigate intraocular penetration of orally administered doxycycline in the normal equine eye and to compare intraocular and serum doxycycline concentrations. Procedures Six mares were administered doxycycline at 10 mg/kg every 12 h by nasogastric tube for 5 days. Blood, aqueous, and vitreous samples were collected on days 1 and 5. All samples were assayed for doxycycline concentrations. Aqueous and vitreous samples were also assayed for protein quantitation.

RESULTS

Doxycycline was rapidly absorbed after the first dose (T(max) value of 1.42 +/- 1.28 h); and elimination of doxycycline occurred slowly (median t(1/2) = 10.88 h). Doxycycline could not be detected in the aqueous on days 1 and 5, nor could it be detected in the vitreous on day 1. On day 5, the mean vitreous doxycycline concentration was 0.17 +/- 0.04 microg/mL at 2 h after drug administration.

CONCLUSIONS

Repeated oral administration of doxycycline in the horse resulted in steady state serum concentrations of < 1 microg/mL; however, it did not result in appreciable concentrations of drug in the aqueous and vitreous in normal eyes.

tet(L)-mediated tetracycline resistance in bovine Mannheimia and Pasteurella isolates

OBJECTIVES

Tetracycline-resistant Mannheimia and Pasteurella isolates, which were negative for the tetracycline resistance genes (tet) commonly detected among these bacteria, were investigated for other tet genes present and their location.

METHODS

Mannheimia and Pasteurella isolates were investigated for their MICs of tetracycline and their plasmid content. Identification of tet genes was achieved by PCR. Plasmids mediating tetracycline resistance were identified by transformation and hybridization experiments. Plasmid pCCK3259 from Mannheimia haemolytica was sequenced completely and analysed for its structure and organization.

RESULTS

All tetracycline-resistant isolates carried the gene tet(L) either on plasmids or on the chromosome. Two M. haemolytica isolates and one Mannheimia glucosida isolate harboured a common 5.3 kb tet(L) plasmid, designated pCCK3259. This plasmid was similar to the tet(B)-carrying tetracycline resistance plasmid pHS-Tet from Haemophilus parasuis and the streptomycin/spectinomycin resistance plasmid pCCK647 from Pasteurella multocida in the parts coding for mobilization functions. The tet(L) gene was closely related to that of the Geobacillus stearothermophilus plasmid pTB19. However, the translational attenuator responsible for the tetracycline-inducible expression of tet(L) was missing in plasmid pCCK3259. A recombination site was identified downstream of tet(L), which might explain the integration of the tet(L) gene region into a basic pCCK3259 replicon.

CONCLUSION

A tet(L) gene was shown for the first time to be responsible for tetracycline resistance in Mannheimia and Pasteurella isolates. This report demonstrates a lateral transfer of a tetracycline efflux gene in Gram-negative bovine respiratory tract pathogens, probably originating from Gram-positive bacteria.

Meta-analysis of pharmacokinetic data of veterinary drugs using the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank: oxytetracycline and procaine penicillin G

Investigators frequently face the quandary of how to interpret the often times disparate pharmacokinetic parameter values reported in the literature. Combining of data from multiple studies (meta-analysis) is a useful tool in pharmacokinetics. Few studies have explored the use of meta-analysis for veterinary species. Even fewer studies have explored the potential strengths and weaknesses of the various methods of performing a meta-analysis. Therefore, in this study we performed a meta-analysis for oxytetracycline (OTC) and procaine penicillin G (PPG) given intramuscularly to cattle. The analysis included 28 individual data sets from 18 published papers for PPG (288 data points), and 41 individual data sets from 25 published papers for OTC (489 data points). Three methods were used to calculate the parameters. The first was a simple statistical analysis of the parameter values reported in each paper. The second method was a standard Two-Stage Method (TSM) using the mean concentration vs. time data extracted from each paper. The third method was the use of nonlinear mixed effect modeling (NMEM) of the concentration vs. time data reported in the various papers, treating the mean data as if each set came from an individual animal. The results of this evaluation indicate that all three methods generate comparable mean parameter estimates for OTC and PPG. The only significant difference noted was for OTC absorption half-lives taken from the published literature, a difference attributable to the use of an alternative method of parameter calculation. The NMEM procedure offers the possibility of including covariates such as dose, age, and weight. In this study the covariates did not influence the derived parameters. A combination approach to meta-analysis of published mean data is recommended, where the TSM is the first step, followed by the NMEM approach.

Serum pharmacokinetics of oxytetracycline in sheep and calves and tissue residues in sheep following a single intramuscular injection of a long-acting preparation

The pharmacokinetics of a long-acting oxytetracycline (OTC) formulation (Liquamycin LA-200) injected intramuscularly (i.m.) at a dose of 20 mg/kg were determined in four calves and 24 sheep to determine if the approved label dose for cattle provided a similar serum time/concentration profile in sheep. The AUC for the calves was 168+/-14.6 (microg ? h/mL) and was significantly less than the AUC for sheep (209+/-43 microg ? h/mL). Using the standard two-stage approach and a one-compartment model, the mean Cmax for the calves was 5.2+/-0.8 microg /mL, and for the sheep was 6.1+/-1.3 microg /mL. The mean terminal phase rate constants were 0.031 and 0.033 h, and the Vdss were 3.3 and 3.08 L/kg for the calves and sheep respectively. Analysis of the data using the standard two-stage approach, the naive pooled-data approach and a population model gave very similar results for both the cattle and sheep data. Sheep tissue residues of OTC in serum, liver, kidney, fat, muscle and injection site were measured at 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 14 days after a single i.m. injection of 20 mg/kg OTC. Half-lives of OTC residues in the tissues were 38.6, 33.4, 28.6, 25.4, 21.3, and 19.9 h for injection site, kidney, muscle, liver, mesenteric fat and renal fat, respectively. The ratio of tissue to serum concentration was fairly consistent at all slaughter times, except for the fat and injection sites. The mean ratios were 1.72, 4.19, 0.11, 0.061, 0.84 and 827 for the liver, kidney, renal fat, mesenteric fat, muscle and injection sites, respectively. The tissue concentrations of OTC residues were below the established cattle tolerances for OTC in liver (6 p.p.m.), muscle (2 p.p.m.) and kidney (12 p.p.m.) by 48 h, and in injection site muscle by 14 days after the single i.m. injection of 20 mg/kg.