DETERMINATION OF METRONIDAZOLE IN ADULT ARTEMIA USING HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

A new HPLC procedure for the determination of metronidazole, a nitroimidazole, in adult Artemia (live brine shrimp) has been developed and validated. Following a liquid extraction using methanol, samples were separated by isocratic reversed-phase HPLC on a Symmetry C18 column and quantified using UV detection at 324nm. The mobile phase was a mixture of water and methanol, with a flow-rate of 1.0ml/min. The procedure produced a linear curve over the concentration range 1-500 mu g/gm with a lower limit of quantification of 0.25 mu g/gm. Intra and inter-assay variability was less than 10%. The development of the assay allowed the determination of metronidazole in a live brine shrimp feeding study.