A Reliable LC Method with Fluorescence Detection for Quantification of (Fluoro)quinolone Residues in Chicken Muscle

Abstract

A simple multiresidue method, HPLC with programmable fluorescence detection and gradient elution, has been developed for analysis of nine (fluoro)quinolones (FQs)—norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, lomefloxacin, danofloxacin, enrofloxacin, sarafloxacin, difloxacin, oxolinic acid, and flumequine in chicken muscle. The samples were extracted with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, 0.01 mol L−1, pH 7.0) and cleaned by SPE. Cleaned extracts reconstituted in different solvents were tested to determine which gave the maximum fluorescence response for each drug. PBS (0.01 mol L−1, pH 7.0) was used as reconstitution solvent, because the sensitivity for FQs dissolved in PBS was 1.8–3.2 times greater than when dissolved in the mobile phase. Under the optimum conditions excellent linearity was obtained, with satisfactory correlation coefficients (r > 0.9994) for PBS. The “matrix effect” was eliminated. Limits of quantification for each drug were in the range 0.3–1.0 ng g−1. In fortification studies recoveries of the analytes were in the range 71.8–102.1% for 1–100 ng g−1 concentrations. Inter- and intra-day coefficients of variation were from 0.5 to 5.2% and from 1.7 to 9.0%, respectively. Short-term stability in PBS was also determined.