Study of pharmacokinetics of an in situ forming gel system for controlled delivery of florfenicol in pigs.

To reduce florfenicol (FFC) administration frequency in veterinary use, the drug was currently developed into in situ forming gel. Twelve pigs were randomly divided into two groups (six pigs per group). A single i.m. dose of 40 mg/kg body weight (b.w.) was given to pigs, group one was given FFC in situ forming gel, and group two was given FFC conventional injection. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine FFC plasma concentrations. There were significant differences (P < 0.01) between FFC in situ forming gel and conventional injection, in pharmacokinetic parameters MRT (mean retention time) (57.79 ± 2.88) h versus (15.94 ± 1.29) h, AUC (area under the concentration-time curve) (421.54 ± 8.97) μg·h/mL versus (168.16 ± 4.59) μg·h/mL, tmax (time of occurrence of cmax ) (9.00 ± 2.68) h versus (4.33 ± 0.82) h, cmax (maximum plasma concentration) (6.87 ± 0.66) μg/mL versus (12.01 ± 0.66) μg/mL, t1/2λz (terminal elimination half-life) (38.04 ± 2.20) h versus (9.15 ± 2.71) h. The results demonstrated that the in situ forming gel system could shorten dosing interval of FFC and thus achieved less frequent administration during long-term treatment.