Pharmacokinetics of intravenously injected chloramphenicol in baby pigs.

A sensitive fluorometric assay procedure for chloramphenicol and its metabolites was used to measure distribution in tissues and elimination of the drug after injection of 22 mg/kg iv in baby pigs. Disappearance of chloramphenicol from plasma was biphasic; an initial component was rapid (half-life about 9 min) and a second component had a half-life of 55 min. The total chloramphenicol levels in tissues and body fluids had half-life periods of 1-1.5 hr and dropped below limits of detectability within 9 hr after injection. About 80% of the injected dose was recovered from urine collected over the first 6 hr, and none thereafter. Fecal elimination, if occurring, was negligible.