Determination of albendazole and its metabolites in the muscle tissue of hybrid striped and largemouth bass using liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

A liquid chromatographic method was developed for the determination of albendazole and its metabolites albendazole sulfoxide, albendazole sulfone, and albendazole-2-aminosulfone from largemouth and hybrid striped bass muscle tissue with adhering skin. The muscle tissue samples were made alkaline with potassium carbonate and extracted with ethyl acetate. The extracts were further subjected to cleanup by using a series of liquid-liquid extractions. After solvent evaporation, the residue was reconstituted in mobile phase and chromatographed. The chromatography was carried out on a reversed-phase Luna C18 column, using acetonitrile-methanol buffer as the mobile phase. The analytes were detected by fluorescence with excitation and emission wavelengths of 290 and 330 nm, respectively. The average recoveries from the fortified muscle tissue of the 2 fish species for albendazole (25-100 ppb), albendazole sulfoxide (8.75-52.5 ppb), albendazole sulfone (1-10 ppb), and albendazole-2-aminosulfone (10-100 ppb) were 89, 82, 99, and 74%, respectively. The coefficient of variation for each compound was <20% in all cases. The procedure was applied to the determination of albendazole and its 3 metabolites in the muscle tissue of the 2 fish species after orally dosing them with albendazole.