Detection of prohibited substances in equestrian sport through direct injection of equine serum using micellar LC.

BACKGROUND

Detection of prohibited substances in equestrian sports typically involves time-consuming and tedious sample-preparation methods. Micellar LC (MLC) allows for direct injection of equine serum to detect prohibited NSAIDs.

RESULTS

The method was linear over the range of standards examined, with recoveries of 94.2-95.1% for phenylbutazone (12-18 µg/ml), and 83.9-88.7% and 87.9-105.0% for diclofenac and flunixin, respectively (0.1-1.2 µg/ml). The limit of detection was 0.1 µg/ml for all compounds and the limit of quantitation was 0.2 µg/ml for phenylbutazone and 0.3 µg/ml for diclofenac and flunixin.

CONCLUSION

The MLC method of direct equine serum injection was shown to be valid and simple for the quantitation of banned NSAIDs in equine serum.