Title
PHARMACOKINETICS OF ENROFLOXACIN AFTER A SINGLE INTRAMUSCULAR INJECTION IN INDIAN STAR TORTOISES (GEOCHELONE ELEGANS)
Author(s)
RAPHAEL, BL; PAPICH, M; COOK, RA
Published
1994
Publisher
Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine
Abstract
Infectious diseases in chelonians are often treated with antibiotics. Doses are sometimes extrapolated from those published for other animals because of a lack of pharmacokinetic data for chemotherapeutic agents in reptiles. Enrofloxacin was administered i.m. at 5 mg/kg of body weight to 92 Indian star tortoises (Geochelone elegans). Blood samples were collected at 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 4, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hr postinjection. Each tortoise was sampled only once. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to measure enrofloxacin, and its metabolite ciprofloxacin, in the tortoises' plasma. The mean (+/- SE) maximum plasma concentration of enrofloxacin (3.59 mu g/ml +/- 0.63) was reached within an average of 0.5 hr postinjection; the half-life calculated from the mean concentrations was 5.1 hr. Ciprofloxacin was detected within an average time of 0.5 hr and had a half-life of 4.8 hr. Plasma enrofloxacin was not detectable in samples collected at 72 hr postinjection. These data and the known mean inhibitory concentrations for some domestic animal bacterial isolates indicate that a dosage for Indian star tortoises of 5 mg/kg i.m. every 12 hr would be effective in the treatment of Pseudomonas sp. and Citrobacter sp. infections and every 24 hr for other bacterial infections.
Keywords
SNAKES; FLUOROQUINOLONES

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PUB11848