What Is the Use of Nitroxynil?

 

Nitroxinil is an anthelmintic, a veterinary drug used against parasites in sheep and cattle. The substance is directed against active liver flukes of liver flukes and against to a lesser extent thread worms in the gastrointestinal tract. Nitroxynil is also used against strains of red gum worms (Haemonchus contortus) that have become resistant to benzimidazole.

 

Nitroxinil is a low-spectrum trematode and nematicide and is rarely used in cattle, sheep and goats. It is mainly available as an injection and is usually used in combination with ivermectin.

 

Nitroxinil was invented by May & Baker in the mid-1960s as part of a programme of research into p-hydroxybenzonitrile derivatives. In addition to nitrobenzonitrile, the same company also invented the herbicides iodobenzonitrile (3,5-diiodo) and bromobenzonitrile (3,5-dibromo). Nitrobenzonitrile has a nitro group in addition to an iodine group.

 

Nitrobenzonitrile is practically insoluble in water. It is usually injected subcutaneously into animals as a water-soluble ethyl glucosamine salt. It must not be used in animals for the production of milk for human consumption.

 Nitroxynil Injection

Nitroxynil injection is indicated for the treatment of fascioliasis (infestation of mature and immature Fasciola hepatica) in cattle and sheep. At the recommended dose rate, it is also effective against adult and larval infestations of Haemonchus contortus in cattle and sheep and Haemonchus placei, Oesophagostomum radiatum and Bunostomum phlebotomum in cattle. However, it should not be regarded or used as a broad spectrum anthelmintic..

 

Efficacy of Nitroxinil

Nitroxinil is highly effective against adult liver flukes (liver flukes) and against the late juvenile stage (> 6 weeks) in cattle.

 

It is also effective against a number of gastrointestinal nematodes (e.g. Haemonchus spp., Haemophilus spp., Esophagus spp. and Parafilaria featherlice), as well as against the fly maggot causing sheep nosema (sheep fly).

 

In contrast to many other anthelmintics (e.g. imidazole, benzimidazole, tetrahydropyrimethamine), Nitroxinil has a residual effect, i.e. it not only kills the parasites present in the host at the time of treatment, but also prevents reinfection for a period of time (up to several weeks), depending on the dose and the particular parasite.

 

Nitroxinil is not effective against trematodes (Paramphistomum spp.), roundworms, other parasites such as lungworms (e.g. Anopheles spp.) or eyeworms (e.g. sucking nematodes), cestodes and other ectoparasites.

 

Although it also has anti-hookworm activity, it is primarily used as a veterinary fasciicide. At a subcutaneous dose of 10 mg/kg, nitroxynil showed activity against adult haematodes of the genus Haemonchus, supine and oesophageal mouths in cattle and sheep. It is equally effective against benzimidazole-resistant Amoeba distortans in sheep.

 

Nitroxynil is currently used to treat liver infections in cattle and sheep. The recommended dose of 10 mg/kg subcutaneously eliminates 90-99% of adult liver flukes; it has very low activity against immature flukes.

 

Pharmacokinetics of nitroanilide

Injected nitroanilide is very strongly and almost completely bound to plasma proteins (>97%). Concentrations in blood are significantly higher than those in tissues.

 

Unchanged nitrobenzene is excreted via the liver, which is why high concentrations are found in the bile ducts, the preferred site for adult liver flukes. It is also metabolised in the liver parenchyma to metabolites with schistosomicidal activity, which explains its efficacy against late immature trematodes migrating through liver tissue.

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