Cardiovascular effects of intravenous administration of propylene glycol and of oxytetracycline in propylene glycol in calves.

Comparisons were made of the acute cardiovascular effects of oxytetracycline, oxytetracycline in propylene glycol, and propylene glycol alone given to conscious dairy calves. The calves were chronically instrumented with intravascular catheters and electromagnetic flowmeter transducers in and on the pulmonary and renal arteries. Injection (IV) of aqueous preparations of oxytetracycline produced no statistically significant (P greater than 0.05) cardiocirculatory changes in these calves. Oxytetracycline in propylene glycol and propylene glycol alone both produced transient (1 to 4 minute) periods of cardiovascular depression characterized by cardiac asystole, systemic hypotension, and decreased pulmonary and renal arterial blood flow. The two preparations, in equivalent doses and volumes, produced statistically similar hemodynamic changes in the calves. The data from this study support the conclusion that the monitored cardiovascular effects of the commercially available oxytetracycline in propylene glycol in the intact, awake calves were due to the solvent propylene glycol. This conclusion is consistent with reports of other injectable products containing the same solvent.