Abstract
The metabolism of a widely used veterinary drug, N-(5-nitro-2-furfurylidene)-3-amino-2-oxazolidone (furazolidone) was investigated in vitro and in vivo. When the nitrofuran was incubated with milk xanthine oxidase oxidase supplemented with hypoxanthine, two reduction products were isolated as metabolites from the reaction mixture.One (mp179-180○) was identified to be 3-(4-cyano-2-oxobutylideneamino)-2-oxazolidone by mass, ultraviolet and nuclear magnetic resinance spectrometries, from its formation of 2, 4-dinitrophenylhydrazone and by comparison with an authentic specimen.The metabolite was also isolated from the urine of rabbits given orally with fufurazolidone.However, the struc-tuer of another metablite (mp 198○(dec.))remains to be clarified.The mutagenicity test showed that the nitrofuran was strongly muragenic against Salmonella typhimurium TA100, while above cyano derivative was above cyano derivativa was completely inactive.
