High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of oxytetracycline in chinook salmon following administration of medicated feed.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic assay was developed to detect oxytetracycline (OTC) in chinook salmon muscle tissue. A solid-phase extraction protocol was used to recover OTC and the internal standard, epitetracycline hydrochloride, from the salmon tissue samples. OTC was analyzed using a mobile phase of methanol-0.02 M phosphate buffer, pH 2.25 (60:190), an ultraviolet detection wavelength of 365 nm and 250 mm x 4.6 mm I.D. Ultrasphere ODS column. A linear calibration curve (r2 = 0.999) of OTC in salmon muscle tissue from 0.05 to 3.0 ppm was obtained. Using a signal-to-noise ratio of 5:1, the OTC detection limit was 0.5 ppm in salmon muscle tissue. OTC recovery (74.4%) and intra-assay variability (2.3%) were optimized for salmon muscle tissue. An in vivo feeding study was performed by administrating OTC-medicated feed for a period of 10 days, followed by a 42-day sampling period. The half-life for the elimination of OTC in chinook salmon muscle tissue was found to be 5.4 days.