Rapid method for the determination of ampicillin residues in animal muscle tissues by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

A rapid and sensitive HPLC method was developed for the determination of ampicillin residues in muscle tissues of beef, pork, chicken and catfish. Muscle tissues were blended with a food processor into paste. A 5-g aliquot of the blended tissues was homogenized with 14 ml of 0.01 M phosphate buffer (pH 4.5) using a tissue homogenizer. Proteins were precipitated with the addition of 1 ml trichloroacetic acid (75%, w/v) followed by centrifugation. After filtration, 1 ml of the supernatant was reacted with formaldehyde under acidic and heating conditions. The ampicillin fluorescent derivative was then analyzed by reverse phase HPLC with fluorescence detection. Recoveries of spiked ampicillin at 5, 10 and 20 ng/g were >85%, with coefficients of variation <5%. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation for ampicillin in the tissues were 0.6 ng/g and 1.5 ng/g, respectively. The method is also applicable to the analysis of ampicillin residue in dry milk powder.