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Date from plasma and urine samples from four ewe lambs were analyzed after administration of sulfamerazine as single IV and oral doses. A two-compartment pharmacokinetic model was developed to describe the disposition of sulfamerazine. The drug was eliminated, primarily by renal excretion of (i) unchanged sulfamerazine and metabolism to an acetyl metabolite, (ii) polar conjugates, and (iii) a third metabolite. The biological half-life of the drug was 6.6 hours. The average value of the absorption rate constant was 0.433 hour-1 (half-life 1.60 hours). Sulfarmerazine was relatively completely absorbed (approx 81% of dose) after oral administration in solution.

The disposition of sulfamerazine after oral and after IV administrations was studied in lambs at different times after birth. There was a gradual increase in systemic clearance and plasma binding until the 9th week. After sulfamerazine was given orally, there was a marked evolution in the shape of the concentration-time curves in function of age, strongly suggesting a defective absorption rate in the first weeks after birth. For antipyrine, too, the clearance increased gradually during the period of study, but absorption seemed to be rapid in the very young animals.