metadata toggle
Pharmacological particulars
Pharmacotherapeutic group: Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory
ATCvet Code: QJ01AA56
Pharmacodynamic properties
The tetracyclines are a family of broad-spectrum bacteriostatic antibiotics which inhibit protein synthesis in susceptible microorganisms. A wide range of organisms are known to be sensitive in vitro to oxytetracycline, including Pasteurella spp, Arcanobacterium pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and certain mycoplasmas.
After oxytetracycline diffuses through the outer bacterial cell membrane, an active carrier mediated process transports the drugs through the inner cytoplasmic membrane. Inside the cell, oxytetracycline binds irreversibly to receptors on the 30S sub-unit of the bacterial ribosome where it interferes with the binding of the aminoacyl-transfer RNA to the acceptor site on the messenger RNA ribosome complex. This effectively prevents the addition of amino acids to the elongating peptide chain, inhibiting protein synthesis.
Flunixin meglumine is a relatively potent non-narcotic, non-steroidal analgesic with anti-inflammatory, anti-endotoxic and anti-pyretic properties.
Flunixin meglumine acts as a reversible inhibitor of cyclo-oxygenase, an important enzyme in the arachidonic acid cascade pathway which is responsible for converting arachidonic acid to cyclic endoperoxides. Consequently, synthesis of eicosanoids, important mediators of the inflammatory process involved in central pyresis, pain perception and tissue inflammation, is inhibited. Through its effects on the arachidonic acid cascade, flunixin also inhibits the production of thromboxane, a potent platelet pro-aggregator and vasoconstrictor which is released during blood clotting. Flunixin exerts its antipyretic effect by inhibiting prostaglandin E2 synthesis in the hypothalamus. By inhibiting the arachidonic acid cascade pathway, flunixin also produces an anti-endotoxic effect by suppressing eicosanoid formation and therefore preventing their involvement in endotoxin associated disease states.
Environmental properties
Flunixin is toxic to avian scavengers although foreseen low exposure leads to low risk.