Quality of Antimicrobial Products Used in Striped Catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) Aquaculture in Vietnam.

Antimicrobial usage is common in Asian aquaculture. This study aimed to determine the quality of antimicrobial products used by Vietnamese striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) farmers. Twenty one antimicrobial products (11 products contained a single antimicrobial and 10 products contained a mixture of two different antimicrobials) commonly used by catfish farmers were obtained from so-called chemical shops located in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry was used to analyze concentration of sulfonamides, trimethoprim, amoxicillin, cefalexin and ciprofloxacin whereas concentrations of florfenicol and doxycycline were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography with UV detection. Results revealed that only 4/11 products with a single antimicrobial and 2/10 products with a mixture of antimicrobials contained active substances within ±10% of the concentration declared on the product label. Two products with antimicrobial mixtures did not contain any of the declared antimicrobials. Comparing two batches, analysis of 11 products revealed that only one product contained a concentration of active compound that varied with less than 10% in both batches. Several product labels provided inadequate information on how to calculate therapeutic dosage and further stated withdrawal time despite lack of pharmacokinetic data on the antimicrobials in catfish. There is an urgent need to strengthen approval procedures and in particular regularly to monitor the quality of antimicrobials used in Vietnamese aquaculture.

Development of an ultrasonic slurry sampling method for the determination of Cu and Mn in antibiotic tablets by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry.

A new method is described for simple, efficient and rapid determination of Cu and Mn in tablets of antibiotics (ciprofloxacin and cephalexin) by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) using slurry sampling. In order to optimize the procedure, several variables that could affect the performance of the method were investigated. In the best conditions, the tablets could be analyzed by introducing into the graphite tube 20 µl of a slurry prepared with approximately 90-100mg of the sample and 2 ml of a solution containing 5% m/v of Triton X-114 and 2.8 M of HNO(3). Before the introduction, the slurries were sonicated for 15 min at 40% of amplitude (130 W maximum power) with an ultrasonic probe. The developed method was applied in the determination of Cu and Mn in four samples, and the results were compared with those obtained by focused microwave acid digestion with aqua regia (1:3 mixture of HNO(3):HCl). There was no statistical difference between the obtained values at 95% confidence level when a paired Student t-test was applied.

Determination of faropenem in human plasma and urine by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A simple, rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography/electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) quantitative detection method, using cefalexin as internal standard, was developed for the analysis of faropenem in human plasma and urine. After precipitation of the plasma proteins with acetonitrile, the analytes were separated on a C18 reversed-phase column with 0.1% formic acid-methanol (45:55, v/v) and detected by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry in positive multiple reaction monitoring mode. Calibration curves with good linearities (r=0.9991 for plasma sample and r=0.9993 for urine sample) were obtained in the range 5-4000 ng/mL for faropenem. The limit of detection was 5 ng/mL. Recoveries were around 90% for the extraction from human plasma, and good precision and accuracy were achieved. This method is feasible for the evaluation of pharmacokinetic profiles of faropenem in humans, and to our knowledge, it is the first time the pharmacokinetic of faropenem has been elucidated in vivo using LC-MS/MS.