Screening of Tetracycline Residues in Fish Muscles by CCD Camera-Based Solid-Surface Fluorescence

Abstract

A methodology for the screening of tetracyclines (TCs), including tetracycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OTC), and chlorotetracycline (CTC), in different fish muscle matrices has been proposed. This method was based on in situ fluorescent derivation of TCs, transferring weakly fluorescing TCs to highly fluorescent species, on alkaline-activated solid silica gel G plates (SGGPs). By coupling solid-surface fluorescence (SSF) with charge-coupled device (CCD) camera imaging, a CCD camera-based SSF (CCD-SSF) methodology has been developed. Calibration curve, repeatability, selectivity, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ) have been explored for evaluating the performance of the method itself. Linear calibration curves were obtained over a range of 0.20-1.0 ng/spot for all three TCs. The LODs, defined as 3sigma, for TC, OTC, and CTC were 0.14, 0.15, and 0.16 ng/spot, respectively. The trueness of method was validated by HPLC, and no significant difference between CCD-SSF and HPLC was found, on a basis of 95% confidence level. By spiked recovery studies, a linear calibration curve ranging from 20 to 300 microg/kg of TC in fish muscle samples with a correlation coefficient (R 2) equal to 0.994 was obtained. The total average recovery for TC in fish muscle samples from six different fish matrices, fortified with TC at 50, 100, and 200 microg/kg levels, was 75.7% with average relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 2.0 to 7.7%. RSDs ranged from 2.5 to 5.8% and from 5.2 to 7.6% for in-day and interday repeatability, respectively. The detection and quantification limits in fish muscle matrices were 16 and 53 microg/kg of TCs, respectively. The newly developed CCD-SSF method has been applied to the screening of the TC residues in fish muscle samples. The method has been demonstrated to bear some advantages, such as its simplicity, high throughput, low cost, use of fewer pollutants, and reasonable sensitivity.