Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How mirtazapine lasts in cats with liver disease compared to healthy
By Fitzpatrick, Rikki L et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2018·Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: In vivo and in vitro assessment of mirtazapine pharmacokinetics in cats with liver disease.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats with liver disease was studied to see how their bodies processed the medication mirtazapine, which is often used to stimulate appetite. The research found that these cats took longer to reach peak levels of the drug in their blood compared to healthy cats, and the drug stayed in their system much longer. This means that cats with liver disease may need mirtazapine given less often than healthy cats to avoid potential side effects. If your cat has liver disease and needs mirtazapine, talk to your vet about adjusting the dosage schedule.
People also search for: cat liver disease medication · mirtazapine for cats with liver disease · how often to give mirtazapine to cats
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Liver disease (LD) prolongs mirtazapine half-life in humans, but it is unknown if this occurs in cats with LD and healthy cats. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: To determine pharmacokinetics of administered orally mirtazapine in vivo and in vitro (liver microsomes) in cats with LD and healthy cats. ANIMALS: Eleven LD and 11 age-matched control cats. METHODS: Case-control study. Serum was obtained 1 and 4 hours (22 cats) and 24 hours (14 cats) after oral administration of 1.88 mg mirtazapine. Mirtazapine concentrations were measured by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Drug exposure and half-life were predicted using limited sampling modeling and estimated using noncompartmental methods. in vitro mirtazapine pharmacokinetics were assessed using liver microsomes from 3 LD cats and 4 cats without LD. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in time to maximum serum concentration between LD cats and control cats (median [range]: 4 [1-4] hours versus 1 [1-4] hours; P = .03). The calculated half-life of LD cats was significantly prolonged compared to controls (median [range]: 13.8 [7.9-61.4] hours versus 7.4 [6.7-9.1] hours; P < .002). Mirtazapine half-life was correlated with ALT (P = .002; r = .76), ALP (P < .0001; r = .89), and total bilirubin (P = .0008; r = .81). The rate of loss of mirtazapine was significantly different between microsomes of LD cats (-0.0022 min, CI: -0.0050 to 0.00054 min) and cats without LD (0.01849 min, CI: -0.025 to -0.012 min; P = .002). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Cats with LD might require less frequent administration of mirtazapine than normal cats.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30307637/