Development and Validation of a Rapid and Reliable HPLC-FLD Method for the Quantification of Ciprofloxacin and Enrofloxacin Residues in Zea mays

Júlio Brito,Laurenice Ramos,Débora De Assis,Marcelo Gomes,Thais Da Silva,Vinícius Bernardoni

doi:10.21577/0103-5053.20210129

Abstract

The accumulation of antibiotics by plants is a currently concern associated to yield reduction and transference of antibiotic residues along the food web. Maize is a staple food in many parts of the world; it is also considered an important ingredient in animal nutrition. Considering the lack of validated analytical methods for the analysis of ciprofloxacin (CIPRO) and enrofloxacin (ENRO) in the shoot of Zea mays maize, we developed a reliable reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD). This method was validated for linearity, matrix effects, precision, accuracy, limits of quantification (LOQ) and detection (LOD), and robustness. The analytical curves were linear with coefficient of determination (R2 ) of 0.9907 for CIPRO and 0.9962 for ENRO. The LOD values were 16.65 and 6.57 μg kg−1 for CIPRO and ENRO, respectively, whereas LOQ values were 50.44 μg kg−1 (CIPRO)and 19.92 μg kg−1 (ENRO). HPLC-FLD also displayed good precision and accuracy. Therefore, the proposed method can be considered a reliable and useful tool for the analysis of ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin in the shoot of maize.

Highlights

The use of antibiotics in farming is a common practice to promote animal growth and prevent and treat diseases.[1]
The blank samples of Zea mays used for validation were grown in the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) garden using soil that was free from quinolones
It was found that for the analyses of both antibiotics, our method showed linearity in the concentration range of 30 to 100 μg kg−1, with R2 values of 0.9907 for CIPRO and 0.9962 for ENRO (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

The use of antibiotics in farming is a common practice to promote animal growth and prevent and treat diseases.[1] Among antibiotic classes, fluoroquinolones, such as enrofloxacin (ENRO), are often used in animal husbandry. ENRO is partially metabolized to ciprofloxacin (CIPRO), its main metabolite. Since the administered antibiotic is not completely assimilated by the organisms, both ENRO and CIPRO are eliminated in animal excrement. Bodies of water are the main sink of antibiotics, and the used of antibiotic-contaminated water for crop irrigation leads to plant exposure to these chemicals.[2] In addition, the use of animal excrement as plant fertilizer is a source of antibiotics for plants.[3]

Methods

Results

Conclusion