Pak. J. Pharm. Vol. 16-20 (No. 1 & 2) 2003-2006 ISSN: 1019-936X 25 STUDY OF PHENYLBUTAZONE TOXICITY IN AVIAN SPECIES Asif Farooq Awan 1,2 , Taha Nazir 2* Muhammad Ashraf 3 , Owais Umer 3 and Habib Ur Rehman 3 1 Services Hospital, Department of Health, Government of the Punjab, Jail Road, Lahore, Pakistan 2 Department of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; 3 Faculty of Biosciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan ABSTRACT A vulture crisis is an important environmental problem, which happened because of utilization of unsafe anti- inflammatory and analgesic drugs. The clinical profile of phenylbutazone is not very much different from other NSAID’s. Despite of sharing pharmacological usefulness, phenylbutazone also shares unwanted effects which may eventually lead to the serious therapeutic complications and ecological imbalance. Therefore; we have aimed this study to evaluate the effects of toxic doses of phenylbutazone in broiler chickens. Two hundred and twenty five (225) healthy broiler chickens were reared up to 28 days and were divided into 5 groups each comprising 25 birds. On day 29 four groups were dosed 50mg/kg body weight twice a day intra-muscularly for 4 days. Food and water were provided ad libitum. A physical examination, toxicity and mortality rate were recorded daily. Blood samples were drawn to determine the serum values of aspartame transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), uric Acid, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and creatinine. Postmortem was performed on day 41. In second experiment other 100 birds were divided into 5 groups, each comprising 20 birds. One of the groups was injected I/M phenylbuazone 100 mg/kg twice a day. Postmortem was performed after medication on day 5. Based on the necropsy findings and biochemical analysis, phenylbuazone was not found to be safe in the avian species. Thus, it is suggested that the veterinary use of phenylbuazone should be avoided. Keywords: Phenylbutazone toxicity, Broiler birds, LFTs INTRODUCTION Phenylbutazone; (3, 5-Pyrazolidinedione, 4-butyl-1, 2- diphenyl-Butazolidin, C 19 H 20 N 2 O 2 ) is a white to off- white, odorless, crystalline powder. Soluble in alcohol, water, acetone and ether. It has similar anti-inflammatory effects and different toxicity profile as compared to the other salicylates. 1 Like aminopyrine, phenylbutazone can cause retention of sodium and chloride ion, edema, nausea, vomiting epigastric discomfort. 2 ,skin rashes, peptic ulcer hemorrhage 3 perforation, hypersensitivty reaction, serum sickness, ulcerative stomatitis, hepatitis, nephritis, aplastic anemia, leukopenia, agranulocytosis and thrombocytopenia 4 A number of deaths have also been reported, especially from aplastic anemia and agranulocytosis. Keeping the above in view, we aimed this study to investigate the toxicity and evaluate the safety of phenylbutazone in avian species to avoid hazards in wild life. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was conducted at experimental sheds of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore. One hundred and fifty (150) day old broiler chicks collected from the “Pakistan Hatchery, Lahore” were *Corresponding current author’s Address: Dr. Taha Nazir, Associate Dean, School of Pharmacy, The University of Lahore – 24 Jinnah Avenue, Blue Area, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel.: +92 51 2829162-64, Fax: +92 51 282 9238, Email:. tahanazir@yahoo.com