LC-MS/MS Determination of Antibiotic Residues in Distillers Grains: Method Modification.

BACKGROUND: Antibiotics are used in ethanol production to discourage undesirable bacteria growth. To determine if antibiotic residues remain in the distillers grain (DG) byproduct, which is used as an animal food ingredient, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration/Center for Veterinary Medicine previously developed an LC-MS/MS method to detect residues of erythromycin A, penicillin G, virginiamycin M1, and virginiamycin S1 in DG to enable regulatory decision-making. OBJECTIVE: Erythromycin and penicillin G were quantitated using the stable isotope dilution technique with their isotopically labeled compounds, which are considered optimal internal standards (ISTDs) for quantitative mass spectrometry. With the commercial availability of virginiamycin M1-d2 since then, the objectives of this study were to evaluate the feasibility of its use as it is only doubly deuterated, and to incorporate it in the method to enhance method performance. METHOD: Antibiotic residues were solvent-extracted from DG; the extract was cleaned up by a hexane wash and solid phase extraction (SPE) and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. RESULTS: We established suitability of virginiamycin M1-d2 as an ISTD and incorporated it in the method. For all analytes, accuracy and precision ranged 90 to 102% and 3.8 to 6.8, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We modified a previously developed LC-MS/MS method that uses virginiamycin M1-d2 as an ISTD to support surveillance studies to determine several drugs in DG. HIGHLIGHTS: Virginiamycin M1-d2 was successfully incorporated into the method for better virginiamycin M1 quantitation. This addition also allowed calibration curves for all analytes to be constructed in solvent, thereby simplifying the method.

Development of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method to determine colistin, bacitracin and virginiamycin M1 at cross-contamination levels in animal feed.

Cross-contamination of animal feed with antibiotics may occur during manufacturing in feed mills, because shared production lines can be used for medicated and non-medicated feed, but may also occur during transport, storage and at the farm level. This is a major issue in the current context where antimicrobial usage must be controlled in order to maintain their effectiveness. A LC-MS/MS method was developed for the determination of colistin, bacitracin A and virginiamycin M1 in feed for pigs, poultry and rabbits at concentrations similar to those encountered in cross-contamination. After investigating various issues related to colistin behaviour and matrix effects, we successfully validated this method according to the requirements of European regulations in terms of linearity, trueness, precision, limit of quantification and limit of decision. Trueness ranged 88.6-107.8% and precision ranged 12.6-21.2%. We then applied this method to the analysis of medicated pig feed to check the performance of the method on "real" samples of medicated feed. We subsequently analysed non-medicated pig, and rabbit feed samples, collected directly on farms, to check the rate of cross-contamination. No samples were contaminated by colistin, bacitracin, or virginiamycin.

Determination of virginiamycin M1 residue in tissues of swine and chicken by ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

A reliable UPLC-MS/MS method with high sensitivity was developed and validated for the determination of virginiamycin M1 in muscle, fat, liver, and kidney samples of chicken and swine. Analytes were extracted using acetonitrile and extracts were defatted by N-hexane. Chromatographic separation was performed on a BEH C18 liquid chromatography column. The analytes were then detected using triplequadrupole mass spectrometry in positive electrospray ionization and multiple reaction monitoring mode. Calibration plots were constructed using standard working solutions and showed good linearity. Limits of quantification ranged from 2 to 60 ng mL-1.

An LC-MS/MS method for the determination of antibiotic residues in distillers grains.

Antibiotics are used in ethanol production to discourage the growth of bacteria that would result in lower ethanol content and a lower quality product. A survey conducted by the FDA (FY 2010 Nationwide Survey of Distillers Grains for Antibiotic Residues, 2009 [1]) revealed that the residues of these antibiotics can remain in the distillers grains (DG) by-product, which is used as an animal feed ingredient. The low levels of antibiotic residues in DG could be a public health concern, as they could lead to antimicrobial resistance. To enable the quantitative determination of these antibiotics (erythromycin, penicillin G, virginiamycin M1 and virginiamycin S1), we developed a sensitive LC-MS/MS method. The residues were extracted from distillers grains with a mixture of acetonitrile and buffer followed by acetonitrile. The combined extract was diluted with water and washed with hexane. An aliquot was cleaned up on an Oasis HLB solid phase extraction cartridge. Extracts were analyzed by LC-tandem mass spectrometry. The method was successfully validated using a variety of different matrices such as corn DG, corn & milo DG, and deoiled corn DG. Absolute recoveries of the analytes ranged from 53 to 106%. Accuracy ranged from 90 to 101% based on calibration by matrix standards. The limits of quantitation and relative standard deviation were all satisfactory to support future surveillance studies.

[Determination of virginiamycin M1 and S1 residues in livestock and poultry products by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry].

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was established for the determination of virginiamycin M1 and S1 residues in livestock and poultry products. The sample was extracted by methanol-acetonitrile solution (1:1, v/v). The supernatant was diluted with 0.01 mol/L ammonium dihydrogen phosphate solution, then purified and concentrated on an Oasis HLB cartridge. The separation of virginiamycin M1 and S1 was performed on a Luna C18 column with the mobile phases acetonitrile and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate aqueous solution (containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid) in a gradient elution mode. The identification and quantification of the drugs were carried out by positive electrospray ionization (ESI + ) in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode using external standard method. The calibration curves showed good linearity in the range of 0.15-10.0 microg/L with correlation coefficients (r2) above 0. 999. The limits of quantities (LOQs) were both 0.25 microg/kg. The average recoveries of the two drugs spiked at 0.25, 0.5 and 2.5 microg/kg levels in different matrices were between 71.2% and 98.4%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were between 3.6% and 15.4%. The method is simple, rapid, sensitive and accurate. It is suitable for the confirmation and quantification of virginiamycin M1 and S1 residues in livestock and poultry products.

[Determination of virginiamycin M1, in feeds by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry].

A comprehensive analytical method based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) has been developed for the determination of virginiamycin M1 in feeds. The sample was extracted twice by ultrasonic extraction with ace-tonitrile-0.2% (v/v) formic acid (8:2, v/v). The chromatographic separation was achieved with a BEH C18 column and acetonitrile-0. 3% (v/v) formic acid (35: 65, v/v) as the mobile phase. The identification and quantification of the analyte were carried out on electrospray ionization MS/MS in a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The correlation coefficient (r) of virginiamycin M1 was 0. 999 5 in the linear range of 0. 3 -226. 6 microg/L. The detection limit (S/ N = 3) and quantification limit (S/N = 10) of virginiamycin M1 were 2 microg/kg and 7 microg/kg, respectively. The average spiked recoveries were in the range of 82. 6% to 102. 7% with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 0.9% - 10.5%. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is simple, sensitive, repeatable and suitable for the testing of virginiamycin M, in feeds.