Biological half-life of oxytocin in the goat.

The disappearance of oxytocin from the peripheral circulation of the goat after a single intravenous injection followed a biexponential curve. The mean (±SD) half-life, calculated from the slower component of this decline, was 22·3 ± 0·6 minutes. The volume of the central compartment was about twice the volume of the vascular compartment and the total apparent volume of distribution was more than twice the size of the extracellular compartment.