A bridging study for oxytetracycline in the edible fillet of rainbow trout: analysis by a liquid chromatographic method and the official microbial inhibition assay.

Oxytetracycline (OTC) is a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to control certain diseases in salmonids and catfish. OTC is also a likely control agent for diseases of other fish species and for other diseases of salmonids and catfish not currently on the label. One requirement for FDA to extend and expand the approval of this antibacterial agent to other fish species is residue depletion studies. The current regulatory method for OTC in fish tissue, based on microbial inhibition, lacks sensitivity and specificity. To conduct residue depletion studies for OTC in fish with a liquid chromatographic method, a bridging study was required to determine its relationship with the official microbial inhibition assay. Triplicate samples of rainbow trout fillet tissue fortified with OTC at 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, 2.4, 4.8, and 9.6 ppm and fillet tissue with incurred OTC at approximately 0.75, 1.5, and 3.75 ppm were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the microbial inhibition assay. The results indicated that the 2 methods are essentially identical in the tested range, with mean coefficients of variation of 1.05% for the HPLC method and 3.94% for the microbial inhibition assay.