High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of Romet-30 in salmon following administration of medicated feed.

A sensitive and selective high-performance liquid chromatographic assay was developed for the simultaneous quantitation of sulphadimethoxine (SDM) and ormetoprim (OMP) in chinook salmon muscle tissue. SDM and OMP were extracted from tissue samples using a solid-phase extraction technique. Resolution of both drugs was accomplished using an Ultrasphere ion-pair column (250 x 4.6 mm I.D.) and a mobile phase of acetonitrile-methanol-0.1 M phosphate buffer, pH 4 (17:10:73) with ultraviolet detection at 280 nm. The calibration curve in salmon muscle tissue was linear over the concentration range 0.2-20 ppm for both SDM (r2 = 0.9974) and OMP (r2 = 0.9956). The minimum detectable quantity of SDM and OMP in salmon muscle tissue was 0.2 ppm at a signal-to-noise ratio of 5:1. An in vivo feeding experiment was undertaken where chinook salmon were administered Romet-30-medicated feed for a 10-day period, followed by a 42-day wash-out period. The rate of tissue uptake and decline of SDM and OMP was shown to differ.