Pharmacokinetics of enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin in male and female turkeys following intravenous and oral administration.

The pharmacokinetics of enrofloxacin (EFL) was investigated in turkeys (6 male and 6 female; 7-month-old at the start of the experiment), after intravenous and oral administration at a dose of 10 mg/kg body weight. The serum concentrations of EFL and its active metabolite ciprofloxacin (CFL) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The serum concentrations vs time were analysed by a compartmental analysis. The mean values of EFL pharmacokinetic parameters showed differences only between values of V(d,ss) (3.46+/-0.19 for the females and 4.53+/-0.11 L/kg for the males, p>0.05). The metabolite CFL was eliminated more slowly than its parent compound. There were no statistically significant differences between the values of the CFL pharmacokinetic parameters calculated for both sexes, excluding the higher values (p>0.05) of C(max) in the females. The ratio AUC(CFL)/AUC(EFL)x100 was 4.4% in the male and 6.84% in the female birds. After oral administration of EFL the values of F(%) were 77.83 in the female and 79.61 in the male turkeys. Higher CFL serum concentrations were measured in females (p>0.05). The pharmacokinetics of enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin in turkeys can be characterized as similar to that in chickens and very similar between both sexes.