Abstract
Antibiotics and hormones widely exist in fertilizers and manures, which are excessively used in agriculture and animal husbandry. Considering their potential harm to the environment and human health, the detection of antibiotics and hormones has become a necessity. However, current methods find it difficult to simultaneously extract and detect antibiotics and hormones in soil and to maintain a high level of accuracy and a low cost. In this study, a straightforward, convenient, and simultaneous extraction and detection method of a representative antibiotic (sulfamethoxazole, SMZ) and hormone (17β-Estradiol, E2) in soil has been established. Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) was used in the pretreatment process and high-performance liquid chromatography with the ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV) method was then chosen in the detection process. By means of single factors and response surface experiments, optimal extraction conditions were a 41-mL buffer solution (pH 4.27) mixed with 1 g of soil sample, an ultrasonication time of 36 min, an ultrasonication temperature of 25 °C, and two extraction cycles. The detection limits of 0.3–10 μg/kg and quantification limits of 1–30 μg/kg have been obtained. Finally, the optimized simultaneous extraction and detection method was validated by three different real soil samples with recoveries ranging from 79.49% to 86.47%.
Highlights
Hormones and antibiotics are widely utilized as part of the rapid development of agriculture and animal husbandry
These excrements can bring severe pollution in soil when used as manures, which will further have an effect on human health [7,8,9]
SMZ is a kind of sulfonamide that can be absorbed and utilized by humans and animals, applying to certain treatment of diseases with a high usage amount [10]. 17β-estradiol (E2) is a natural hormone that is linked to fish feminization near treatment plant outfalls [11]
Summary
Hormones and antibiotics are widely utilized as part of the rapid development of agriculture and animal husbandry. The incomplete adsorption of the two substances in the living body makes them excreted in the form of derived products or original structures [1,2,3,4,5,6]. These excrements can bring severe pollution in soil when used as manures, which will further have an effect on human health [7,8,9]. As co-pollutants with steroid hormones in animal waste, SMZ and E2 generally simultaneously exist in the soil near the Molecules 2020, 25, 1415; doi:10.3390/molecules25061415 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules
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