Multiclass analysis of antimicrobial drugs in shrimp muscle by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A reliable, selective and rapid multiclass method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of 55 antibacterial drug residues in shrimp muscle samples by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The investigated compounds comprise of eight different classes, namely fluoroquinolones, sulfonamides and synergistic agents, tetracyclines, macrolides, lincosamides, penicillins, nitroimidazole and amphenicols. A simple liquid extraction procedure was developed consisting of extraction with a mixture of acetonitrile and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), followed by a defatting step with n-hexane. Chromatographic conditions were optimized, obtaining a running time <10 min. Mean recoveries ranged from 74.3% to 113.3%. For precision test, relative standard deviations (RSD, %) were lower than 15.0% and 24.0% for repeatability and reproducibility, respectively. Limits of detection and quantification ranged from 1.0 to 5.0 ng/g and 3.0–10.0 ng/g, respectively. Finally, the method was applied to real samples and the results demonstrated that enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, pefloxacin and doxycycline were quantifiable in shrimp samples.