Determination of tetracycline antibiotics in salmon muscle by liquid chromatography using post-column derivatization with fluorescence detection

A simple and accurate cleanup procedure using polymeric sorbent was developed for the determination of oxytetracycline (OTC) and tetracycline (TC) residues in salmon muscle. It was applied to the analysis of 20 salmon samples during a month period. The OTC and TC residues were extracted with ethylenediaminetetracetic acid (EDTA)-McIlvaine buffer acidified at pH 4.0 and cleaned up by solid-phase extraction with a polymeric sorbent. The advantages of the polymeric sorbent over the silica-based sorbent in the cleanup of salmon muscle samples are described. A liquid chromatographic method with post-column derivatization and fluorescence detection is proposed because of its sensitivity and specificity. The average recoveries of OTC and TC from muscle salmon tissue fortified at 50, 100, and 200 microg/kg levels, ranged from 83.9 to 93.4% with a coefficient of variation between 4.09 and 5.80%. The limit of quantitation for OTC and TC in salmon muscle was 50 microg/kg.