Abstract
Systemic therapy with oxytetracycline is often used for treatment of clinical metritis although data about its penetration into the uterus and uterine secretion are lacking. Uterine secretions and milk from six cows with clinical metritis were collected for microbiological assay. The animals were treated intramuscularly with long-acting oxytetracycline (20 mg/kg) and samples of plasma, milk and uterine secretions were collected for determination of the antibiotic concentrations by HPLC-PDA analysis. Pharmacokinetics of the antibiotic and in silico prediction of its penetration into the uterus were described. Trueperella pyogenes with MIC values of 16–64 µg mL−1 was isolated (n of cows = 4) from uterine secretions. Oxytetracycline showed fast absorption and penetration in the uterine secretions and milk. No change of withdrawal time for milk was necessitated in cows with clinical metritis. Maximum levels in uterine secretions and predicted concentrations of oxytetracycline in the uterus were lower than MIC values. Systemic administration of long-acting oxytetracycline did not guarantee clinical cure and was not a suitable choice for treatment of clinical metritis associated with Trueperella pyogenes. The appropriate approach to antibiotic treatment of uterine infections of cows requires knowledge on penetration of the antibiotics at the site of infection and sensitivity of pathogens.
Highlights
Clinical metritis is often associated with mixed infections [2] and isolation of pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Trueperella pyogenes [3]
The pharmacokinetic parameters of oxytetracycline following intramuscular administration are presented in Table 1 and on Figure 1
The results from the current study revealed that oxytetracycline penetrated in the uterine tissue and in the uterine secretions at lower levels than Minimum Inhibitory Concentration Determination (MIC) values against Trueperella pyogenes
Summary
Several papers attempted to summarize the knowledge about antibiotic use in treatment of endometritis and metritis in cows and to discuss the efficacy of tetracyclines, macrolides, fluoroquinolones and sulfonamide-trimethoprim combinations [5,6,7]. A meta-analysis of the published data reveals that application of ceftiofur decreases the prevalence of metritis some of research studies reported conflicting results [7,8]. Another problem discussed by Haimerl et al [7] is related to shortage of data that allow making consistent conclusions on the efficacy of the applied drugs. More attention is paid to the prudent use of “old” antibiotics and efforts for establishment of clinical breakpoints have been made [11]
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