Epioxytetracycline, a degradation product of the antibiotic oxytetracycline, has high cross-reactivity with the oxytetracycline antibody [1]. Epioxytetracycline significantly elevated the levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase in rats, caused hematological dysfunction and liver lesions, and affected the glycolytic pathway by promoting glucose phosphorylation [2]. Epioxytetracycline has been widely used as an internal standard to optimize the parameters of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the efficient quantitative determination of the contents of related compounds in chicken feathers[3].
In vivo, Epioxytetracycline treatment via oral administration at a dose of 50mg/kg/day for 15 days significantly increased the relative abundance of Actinobacteria in the intestine of Wistar rats and induced metabolic disorders [4].
References:
[1] Hijaz F, Killiny N. Evaluation of oxytetracycline metabolites cross-reactivity with oxytetracycline enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)[J]. Antibiotics, 2020, 9(4): 183.
[2] Han H, Xiao H, Lu Z. Short-term toxicity assessments of an antibiotic metabolite in Wistar rats and its metabonomics analysis by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry[J]. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 2016, 293: 1-9.
[3] Cornejo J, Pokrant E, Krogh M, et al. Determination of oxytetracycline and 4-epi-oxytetracycline residues in feathers and edible tissues of broiler chickens using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry[J]. Journal of Food Protection, 2017, 80(4): 619-625.
[4] Han H, Xiao H, Zhang K, et al. Impact of 4-epi-oxytetracycline on the gut microbiota and blood metabolomics of Wistar rats[J]. Scientific reports, 2016, 6(1): 23141.