[Determination of tetracycline antibiotics residues in chicken muscle by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry]

A sensitive and selective method is presented for simultaneous determination of tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) veterinary drugs. Oxytetracycline (OTC), tetracyclines (TC) and chlortetracycline (CTC) in the chicken muscle were extracted, and then solid-phase cleaned-up on a C18 reversed-phase column to obtain an extract suitable for analysis by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Electrospray ionization was applied and operated in the positive ion mode. The calibration curves were good linear between the peak areas and the mass concentrations of TCs from 25 to 500 microg/L with the correlation coefficient more than 0.99. The average recoveries from spiked chicken muscle at the three concentrations of 50, 100 and 200 microg/kg were from 72.4% to 94.9% with relative, standard deviation less than 11%. The detection limits of TCs were 10 microg/kg. The method was successfully validated for chicken muscle in compliance with the requirements set by Document No. 1 of 2003 dispatched by the Bureau of Animal Husbandary of Ministry of Agriculture. This method is suitable for the determination of OTC, TC and CTC in chicken muscle.