Development of an analytical method for the determination of tulathromycin in porcine lung tissue using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

This study investigated the residue of tulathromycin (TLM) on the lung tissue of pigs intramuscularly injected with 2.5 mg/kg body weight as a single dose. Nine healthy cross swine were intramuscularly injected with the drug. Three treated animals were arbitrarily selected to be sacrificed at 7, 10 and 14 days after treatment. TLM residue concentrations in lung tissue were determined using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The drug was extracted from lung samples using acetonitrile followed by clean-up with n-hexane. The analyte was separated on a Hypersil GOLDTM liquid chromatography column using 0.1% formic acid in deionized distilled water and acetonitrile. The correlation coefficient (R2) of the calibration curve was 0.9981, and the limits of detection and quantification were 10 and 50 μg/kg, respectively. Recoveries at three spiking levels ranged between 95.0-98.2%, and relative standard deviations were less than 3.95%. In TLM-treated group, the concentration of TLM on 7, 10 and 14 days post-treatment was 627.3, 496.9, 259.1 μg/kg, respectively. The developed method is sensitive and reliable for detection of TLM in porcine lung tissues. In addition, it can detect below the maximum residue limits in animal-derived food products destined for human consumption.