Comparison of clenbuterol and salbutamol accumulation in the liver of two different mouse strains.

In the European Union, β(2)-adrenergic agonists like clenbuterol and salbutamol are banned from use as growth promoters. Although clenbuterol and salbutamol both accumulate in the liver, differences in the accumulation rate can be seen among animal species due to different β(2)-adrenoreceptor distributions. The aim of this study was to compare the accumulation of the two in the liver tissue of two different mouse strains. The study included 200 8-week-old BALB/c and C57/BL/6 mice. One group of BALB/c (40) and one group of C57/BL/6 (40) mice were treated with 2.5 mg/kg body mass clenbuterol per os for 28 days. The remaining two animal groups were treated with salbutamol in the same manner. The animals were then randomly sacrificed on day 1, 15 and 30 post treatments. Despite of the same treatment dose, the results revealed clenbuterol to persist in the liver tissue longer than salbutamol. On post treatment day 30, the concentration of clenbuterol residue in C57/BL/6 and BALB/c mice liver tissue were 0.23 ± 0.02 and 0.21 ± 0.03 ng/g, respectively, while residues of salbutamol were not detected. When comparing the accumulation of both compounds between the two mouse strains, it becomes apparent that no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the accumulation rate can be found.