Pharmacokinetics of citicoline after intravenous and intramuscular administration in dogs

Background: New studies have confirmed the role of citicoline in reversing different pathological conditions in canine medicine, but dosing regimens of this drug has not yet been investigated in dogs. Using a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system, this study aims to quantify the levels of citicoline in dogs plasma after intravenous (IV) and intramuscular (IM) administration. Design and methods: The subjects of this study were 12 male, mixed breed healthy dogs that were approximately 2 to 3 years old and had a body weight between 15 and 25 kg. Plasma samples were extracted following protein precipitation. Samples were eluted from the column at flow rate of 0.7ml min-1. Solvents were degassed. The PH of the mobile phase of HPLC grade acetonitrile: water (20:80, v/v) was adjusted to 3.0 using 1% orthophosphoric acid. Both sample and standard solutions were filtered through 0.22 μm membrane filter. A sample volume of 20 microliter was injected to HPLC to obtain a standard curve. Results: No clinical signs or drug adverse effect was noticed in animals during and after the period of administration of citicoline. Measuring plasma concentration of citicoline sodium after IV and IM administration showed biphasic plasma peaks which occured at 15 minutes and 5 hours after the drug administration in dogs. Conclusions: Giving the drug once a day with 30-50 mg/kg dosage or twice daily with 15-30 mg/kg dosage would cause their levels to remain elevated for much of the day and doesn’t have any serious adverse effect.