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Thymoquinone (TQ) is the major constituent of Nigella sativa and known to possess a variety of pharmacological effects. This study was designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetic profile of TQ following oral (PO) and intravenous (IV) administration in layer chickens. The layer chickens were equally divided into two groups (six chickens in each group, total 12 chickens), and TQ was administered via PO and IV routes. For PO route, the dose was 20 mg/kg b.w. and for IV route, 5 mg/kg b.w. was administered, respectively. A sensitive and accurate High‐Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) technique was validated for the quantification of TQ from plasma. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.02 µg/ml and 0.05 µg/ml, respectively with >80% recovery. Maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) following PO and IV administration was 8.805 and 4.497 µg/ml, respectively, while time to reach at maximum concentration (Tmax) was 1 and 0.1 hr, respectively. The elimination half‐lives were recorded as 1.02 and 0.978 hr, whereas the mean residence times were 1.79 and 1.036 hr following both PO and IV administration, respectively. The 85% PO bioavailability was indicative that TQ could be used for various therapeutic purposes in layer chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aflatoxins are the secondary metabolites produced by molds particularly by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Aflatoxin B1 is the most common metabolite highly toxic for humans and animals. In the present study contamination status of aflatoxin B1 in cotton seed cake, wanda, wheat bran and homemade concentrate mixture of dairy goats was investigated in district Lahore of Pakistan. A total of Twenty 20 goat farms were randomly selected and out of that 40 feed samples 2 from each farm were collected in the month of April. All the samples were analysed for the determination of aflatoxin B1 by using reverse phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC. Out of total samples Aflatoxin B1 was detected in 33 feed samples, with a percent contamination rate of 83%. The level of aflatoxin B1 ranged from 0 to 225.736 ppb in different feed samples. The maximum level of aflatoxin B1 was detected in cotton seed cake (mean level 137.059 ± 22.293 ppb) followed by wanda, homemade concentrate mixture and wheat bran.. Amongst the positive concentrate feed samples, 28 samples (85% of the positive) were having the concentration of aflatoxin B1 higher than the permissible level which is 5 ppb for concentrates as recommended by European Communities. It is concluded that the concentrate available for goat feeding is having aflatoxin B1 and its concentration is higher than the permissible level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We optimized and validated an isocratic high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay for quantification of ceftiofur hydrochloride in bubaline plasma. Ceftiofur, its metabolic products and protein-bound residues were cleaved, derivatized into desfuroylceftiofur acetamide and injected into HPLC system. The mobile phase comprising of sodium dihydrogen phosphate (0.025 M, pH 7) and acetonitrile (34:66, v/v), was driven at a flow rate of 1 mL/min, and separation was achieved using C18 column. Isocratic elution was performed with an injection volume of 45 ìL and analyte was scanned at 310 nm. The linearity range, limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.1-10 ìg/mL, 0.03 ìg/mL and 0.11 ìg/mL respectively. Moreover, the accuracy, precision and recovery remained within the acceptable limits. The assay was effectively applied for determining the concentration of ceftiofur in plasma samples collected from ceftiofur-treated buffalo calves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]