DETERMINATION OF ENROFLOXACIN IN MEAT AND FISH BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

A simple and rapid method was developed for the determination of enrofloxacin (ERFX), a new quinolone antibacterial agent, in fish and meat by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence and UV detection. The drug was extracted with 0.2% metaphosphoric acid-acetonitrile (7 : 3), followed by a Bond Elut C18 clean-up procedure. The HPLC separation was carried out on an L-column ODS using 0.05 M sodium dihydrogenphosphate-acetonitrile (70 : 30) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min. The fluorescence detector was operated at the excitation wavelength of 285 nm and the emission wavelength of 445 nm, and the ultraviolet detector at 280 nm. The calibration graph was rectilinear from 1 to 20 ng. The recoveries at the level of 0.4 mug/g were 80.2-85.4%, and the detection limit was 0.01 mug/g. An excellent correlation was obtained between the results of the HPLC method and the bioassay method (r = 0.99).