Simultaneous determination of five macrolide antibiotics in meat by high-performance liquid chromatography.

A simple and rapid method using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for the simultaneous determination of five macrolides (josamycin, kitasamycin, mirosamicin, spiramycin and tylosin) in meat has been developed. The drugs were extracted with 0.3% metaphosphoric acid-methanol (7:3, v/v), and the extracts were cleaned up on a Bond Elut SCX (500 mg) cartridge. The HPLC separation was performed on a Puresil 5C18 column (150 x 4.6 mm I.D.) with a gradient system of 0.025 M phosphate buffer (pH 2.5)-acetonitrile as the mobile phase at a flow-rate of 1.0 ml/min. The drugs were detected at 232 mn for josamycin, kitasamycin, mirosamicin and spiramycin, and 287 mn for tylosin. The calibration graphs were rectilinear from 2.5 to 100 ng for each drug. The recoveries at the level of 1.0 microgram/g were 70.8-90.4%, and detection limits were 0.05 microgram/g for each drug.