Pergolide Remains Treatment of Choice for PPID

Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), often called equine Cushing’s disease, has been treated with the drug pergolide for years. The main reason pergolide was initially the treatment of choice was largely based on the drug’s effectiveness in treating people with Parkinson’s disease, a human endocrine disorder, according to Ronette Gehring, BVSc, MMedVet (Pharm), MRCVS, Dipl. ACVCP,
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), often called equine Cushing's disease, has been treated with the drug pergolide for years. The main reason pergolide was initially the treatment of choice was largely based on the drug's effectiveness in treating people with Parkinson's disease, a human endocrine disorder, according to Ronette Gehring, BVSc, MMedVet (Pharm), MRCVS, Dipl. ACVCP, of Kansas State University, who recently published a study reinforcing the usefulness of oral pergolide in horses.

There has been little research done on the drug in horses, noted Gehring, who is an assistant professor in the department of clinical sciences, although a group of researchers from Michigan State University completed a study, lasting from 1997 to 1999, on the efficacy of pergolide in horses, revealing that pergolide was more effective in controlling PPID than another treatment option available to horse owners.

But according to Gehring there was little known about how well horses actually absorb pergolide.

"We didn't even know if horses absorbed the pergolide following oral administration," Gehring said. Gehring and a team of researchers sought to correct this lack of knowledge by testing the drug to see how well a horse's system absorbs and metabolizes it. The study results revealed that oral doses of pergolide are absorbed within 30 minutes of administration, and that the drug's half life (or the time required for the drugs' blood concentration to decrease by 50%) was 27 hours

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
337 votes · 337 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!