Analysis of Nosiheptide in Food Animal Tissues via Its Unique Degradation Product by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry after Alkaline Hydrolysis

Very weak signals of fragment ions of nosiheptide could be observed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The preparation of 4-hydroxymethyl-3-methyl-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acid (HMIA), a specific fragment of nosiheptide, by alkaline hydrolysis is described. HMIA showed a good mass spectrometric signal in negative electrospray ionization mode. In the new method, the nosiheptide residue in muscle tissue was hydrolyzed with sodium hydroxide aqueous solution; this was followed by cleanup using mixed mode cartridges. Identification and quantification of nosiheptide were carried out by analyzing HMIA in hydrolysate of muscles. Nosiheptide showed a good linear relationship (r > 0.996) in the calibration range of 2-500 mu g/kg, and a low limit of quantification of 2 mu g/kg was obtained in swine, chicken, and fish muscles. Recoveries of nosiheptide from spiked muscle samples were 8S-108% with relative standard deviations less than 10%. The proposed method was successfully applied for the detection of the nosiheptide residue in medicated animal tissues samples.