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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1515833
This article is part of the Research Topic Therapeutic Potential and Risks of Cannabinoids in Animal Health View all articles

Pharmacokinetics of a single oral administration of two cannabidiol (CBD) formulations in fed and fasted horses

Provisionally accepted
Alessandra Di Salvo Alessandra Di Salvo 1,2Marilena Bazzano Marilena Bazzano 3Giorgia della Rocca Giorgia della Rocca 1,2*Roberta Galarini Roberta Galarini 4Andrea Marchegiani Andrea Marchegiani 3Fabiola Paoletti Fabiola Paoletti 5Danilo Giusepponi Danilo Giusepponi 5Matteo Mantovani Matteo Mantovani 6Fulvio Laus Fulvio Laus 3
  • 1 Animal Pain Research Center, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Umbria, Italy
  • 2 Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Umbria, Italy
  • 3 School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy
  • 4 Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche "Togo Rosati", Perugia, Italy
  • 5 Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche 'Togo Rosati', Perugia, Umbria, Italy
  • 6 Farmacia San Carlo (FE), Italy, Ferrara, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Pain management in horses plays a pivotal role in the therapeutic approach to several diseases. Horses have cannabinoid receptors at the level of dorsal root ganglia, blood vessels, and synoviocytes that can be up or down-regulated by inflammatory conditions, justifying the possible efficacy of exogenous cannabinoids (i.e., phytocannabinoids) in managing several painful pathologies in this animal species. However, the current use of supplements containing cannabidiol (CBD) in equines is based on anecdotal evidence, without the support of sufficient pharmacokinetic studies. In humans, the concentration peak of CBD and the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) are both strongly influenced by food administration. Also, in equids, the oral bioavailability of some drugs can be influenced by the meal but no information is available about CBD.This study investigated the pharmacokinetics of CBD following oral administration of two different formulations of pure CBD (oil and paste), dosed at 1mg/kg, at two different times about food administration.The obtained pharmacokinetic data did not allow for statistically significant differences between formulations (paste or oil) and feeding time (fed and fasted status). However, following treatment with the paste, the Cmax was achieved in a shorter time range compared to the oily formulation, indicating that it could be a better formulation to consider in future equine studies.

    Keywords: Cannabidiol, cbd, horse, oral administration, pharmacokinetics

    Received: 23 Oct 2024; Accepted: 10 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Di Salvo, Bazzano, della Rocca, Galarini, Marchegiani, Paoletti, Giusepponi, Mantovani and Laus. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Giorgia della Rocca, Animal Pain Research Center, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Umbria, Italy

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