Table 2.
Information regarding each benzodiazepine’s recommended dose and target serum concentration as well as reported serum concentrations, time to peak serum concentration and time to seizure control achieved with each administration route in dogs
| Midazolam | Diazepam | |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended dose | 0.2–0.5 mg/kg intravenous, intranasal or intramuscular | 0.5–2.0 mg/kg intravenous, intranasal or rectal |
| Recommended target serum concentration for seizure control (pharmakokinetic studies) | < 0.04 μg/mL (value derived from humans) | 0.15–0.5 μg/mL |
| Serum concentration achieved with each administration route (pharmakokinetic studies) | Intravenous | |
| NA | NA | |
| Intranasal | ||
| 0.21 ± 0.02 μg/mL (solution) or 0.45 ± 0.09 μg/mL (gel) | 0.44 ± 0.04 μg/mL (solution) or 0.31 +/− 0.17 (solution/atomised formulation) | |
| Intramuscular | ||
| 0.20 ± 0.06 μg/mL or 0.55 ± 0.12 μg/mL (solution) | NA | |
| Rectal | ||
| NA | 0.5 μg/mL (solution) and or 0.01–0.1 μg/mL (suppository) | |
| Buccal | ||
| 0.1–0.2 μg/mL (gel) | NA | |
| Sublingual | ||
| NA | NA | |
| Time to peak serum concentration achieved with each administration route (pharmakokinetic studies) | Intravenous | |
| NA | NA | |
| Intranasal | ||
| 12 min (gel) or 17 min (solution) | 4.5–8.0 min (solution/atomised formulation) | |
| Intramuscular | ||
| 10–15 min (solution) | NA | |
| Rectal | ||
| NA | 15 min (solution) or 80 min (suppository) | |
| Buccal | ||
| 15 min (gel) | NA | |
| Sublingual | ||
| NA | NA | |
| Time to seizure control achieved with each administration route (clinical studies) | Intravenous | |
| 1.0–4.5 min | NA | |
| Intranasal | ||
| 0.5–1.6 min | NA | |
| Intramuscular | ||
| NA | NA | |
| Buccal | ||
| NA | NA | |
| Sublingual | ||
| NA | NA | |
| Rectal | ||
| NA | 2.5 min | |