[Behavior of chloramphenicol residues following intramuscular administration in swine]

Residues of chloramphenicol (CAP) were examined in 24 pigs after intramuscular injection of 30 mg CAP/kg body weight. Two pigs were slaughtered after 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36 hours, 2, 3, 6, 10, 21 and 30 days, respectively. CAP-concentrations were determined in muscle, blood, urine, liver, kidney, bile, and fat. Methods used were gas-liquid chromatography and radioimmunoassay. Detection limits reached were 1-5 ppb. The concentration-time curves obtained reflected a long elimination phase and allowed only calculation of this half-life. Elimination half-life was estimated to be for muscle, blood and urine 160-170 hours, for kidney 310 and for bile 250 hours. Significant correlations were found to exist between CAP-concentrations in plasma and muscle. It appears that blood would be a good body fluid for monitoring CAP-residues in tissue.