Pharmacokinetics and tissue residues of ivermectin in swine

Ivermectin is a widely used broad spectrum antiparasitic agent in veterinary medicine. In this work, we examined the pharmacokinetic parameters and the tissue residue profile of a new injectable formulation of ivermectin developed for pigs. The plasma ivermectin levels reached the peak at about 9 and 2 hours after the administrations in young and adult pigs, respectively. But the elimination half-life (3-3.5 days) and the $C_{max}$ values (24~28 ng/ml) were not significantly different between young and adult pig groups. When compared to the reference formulation, the $C_{max}$ of test formulation was higher and $T_{1/2}$ values were shorter than those of the reference formulation, respectively. The tissue residue levels were dose- and time-dependent and were higher in the liver and fat, than in the other tissues such as the injection sites, the kidney, intestine, muscle, plasma (4~74 ng/g) at the 7th day after the administration of both formulations of ivermectin. Then, the mean tissue ivermectin levels at the 21st day after the administration in all the tissues decreased to 7.4 and 25% of the 7th day levels in the test and reference formulations, respectively. In general, the tissue levels of ivermectin in the animals treated with the test formulation decreased more rapidly than those with the reference formulation. The tissue to plasma distribution ratio (T/P ratio) of ivermectin was higher in the liver and fat than other tissues. The T/P ratio in the liver of animals treated with the test formulation was somewhat higher than that in the animals treated with the reference formulation. Taken together, the results of pharmacokinetic and tissue residue studies indicate that the test formulation of ivermectin for subcutaneous injection is comparable to the reference formulation, but unique in that it has higher peak plasma concentrations, shorter elimination half-life and higher T/P ratio in the liver than the reference formulation.