The degradation of oxytetracycline during thermal treatments of chicken and pig meat and the toxic effects of degradation products of oxytetracycline on rats.

The formation oxytetracycline (OTC) degradation products in chicken and pork under two different methods of cooking were studied. Samples of chicken and pig muscles previously dosed with OTC residues were subjected to boiling or microwave treatment, and the residues were extracted in a mixture of citrate buffer-MeOH (75:25 v/v), and then analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection using a XBridgeTM C18 reverse-phase chromatographic column. Thermal treatment resulted in the degradation of OTC and the concentrations of the degradation products α-apo-oxytetracycline (α-apo-OTC) and β-apo-oxytetracycline (β-apo-OTC) in muscle samples amounted to 0.7 to 1.2 % of the initial OTC content. The toxic effects of the degradation products of oxytetracycline, α-apo-OTC and β-apo-OTC were studied in rats. Male rats received oral doses of 10 mg/kg body weight/day of either α-apo-OTC, β-apo-OTC, 90 days. The results of this study suggest that the toxic effects of β-apo-OTC treatment could damage liver and kidney tissues of rats, as well as lead to the degeneration and necrosis in the hepatocytes.