Detection of urine and blood clenbuterol following short-term oral administration in the horse

Abstract

Background and aim: The pharmacokinetics of clenbuterol in equine urine and blood was investigated.

Material and methods: Urine and blood samples were collected following 3-day multiple oral administrations. The samples were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and further confirmed by solid phase extraction and capillary electrophoresis.

Results: Urinary clenbuterol was detectable until day 14 after the last dose. The urinary excretion of clenbuterol was characterized by a biphasic pattern. The half-lives of the bi-exponential elimination (t_1/2α and t_1/2β) for urinary clenbuterol were about 12.1 and 48 hours. After a single oral administration (4 μg/kg) of clenbuterol, the half-life of serum clenbuterol was approximately 11.4 hours.

Keywords::

• Detection
• clenbuterol
• pharmacokinetics
• horse
• urine

Acknowledgement

This study was funded by Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, Taipei, Taiwan. The authors express their appreciation to Professor Yang Chi from National Chung Hsing University for his research support.

Declaration of interest: All authors have no conflicts of interest.