Sulfamethazine blood/tissue correlation study in swine

Seventy market-weight hogs (90 to 113 kg) were used in a feeding study to determine the correlation of serum sulfamethazine concentrations with sulfamethazine concentrations in liver and muscle at time of slaughter. Test groups were fed medicated feeds prepared from commercial medicated premixes containing 110 g of sulfamethazine/metric ton for 30 days. Fifteen days before hogs were slaughtered, test groups were given maintenance feeds containing 1.1 to 13.9 g of sulfamethazine/metric ton and were fed these diets until slaughtered. Comparison of data from positive- and negative-control groups indicated that total withdrawal of sulfamethazine in the feed was not necessary for the liver to contain less than the allowed tolerance of 0.1 mg of sulfamethazine/kg of liver at slaughter. Feed concentrations of up to 2 g of sulfamethazine/metric ton could be tolerated in withdrawal feeds before liver sulfamethazine values exceeded 0.1 mg/kg of liver. Serum/tissue sulfamethazine ratios were erratic in hogs given 1.1 to 2.7 g of sulfamethazine/metric ton, but became less variable in hogs given greater than 5.7 g/metric ton. Feed concentrations greater than 8 g of sulfamethazine/metric ton produced values greater than 0.1 mg/kg of muscle and values of about 0.4 mg/kg of liver. When serum sulfamethazine concentrations alone were used as a predictor for tissue sulfamethazine values, 100% of the liver values exceeded 0.10 mg/kg of liver when sulfamethazine in serum was greater than 0.45 mg/L. However, 57.4% of samples having serum concentrations between 0.10 and 0.45 mg/L had associated sulfamethazine values greater than 0.1 mg/kg of liver. All hogs having serum sulfamethazine concentrations less than 0.1 mg/L had sulfamethazine concentrations less than 0.1 mg/kg of liver.