Withdrawal of Amoxicillin and Penicillin G Procaine from Milk after Intramammary Administration in Dairy Cows with Mastitis

Introduction: There are many veterinary products containing β-lactam Antibiotics which are used for mastitis treatment in cows. The aim of the study was to determine whether mastitis could have any effect on amoxicillin (AMX) or penicillin G procaine (PEN) withdrawal period from milk, in the context of current maximum residue limits established by the European Commission.

Material and methods: The study was conducted on 17 dairy Black and White cows with clinical mastitis during the lactation period. The first group (n = 8) received 200 mg of amoxicillin (AMX), whereas the second group (n = 9) received 200,000 IU/mg of penicillin G procaine (PEN) by intramammary administration. For the measurement of AMX and PEN concentrations in milk, the liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was applied. Pharmacokinetic calculations were performed using Phoenix WinNonlin 6.4 software.

Results: The determined AMX and PEN half-life values in the mammary gland suggest that the drug withdrawal is at a level of 99.9% within 81 h (≈3.5 days) and 116 h (≈5 days) after administration of AMX and PEN, respectively. The present research indicates that, at 60 h after administration, the average PEN concentration in the milk from cows with clinical signs of mastitis may still reach 4.96 g/kg and that of AMX can even be 6.92 g/kg.

Conclusion: The results obtained confirm that, in mastitis cases, a 72-h withdrawal period is sufficient for elimination of AMX to a lower level than the established maximum residue limit (MRL) values. However, in the case of PEN, at 69 h after administration, the drug concentration may be close to that of the determined MRL.