DETERMINATION OF METRONIDAZOLE IN ADULT ARTEMIA USING HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

Abstract

A new HPLC procedure for the determination of metronidazole, a nitroimidazole, in adult Artemia (live brine shrimp) has been developed and validated. Following a liquid extraction using methanol, samples were separated by isocratic reversed-phase HPLC on a Symmetry C₁₈ column and quantified using UV detection at 324 nm. The mobile phase was a mixture of water and methanol, with a flow-rate of 1.0 ml/min. The procedure produced a linear curve over the concentration range 1-500 µg/gm with a lower limit of quantification of 0.25 µg/gm. Intra and inter-assay variability was less than 10%. The development of the assay allowed the determination of metronidazole in a live brine shrimp feeding study.

Keywords:

• antimicrobial
• aquaculture
• artemia
• bioencapsulation
• HPLC
• metronidazole

Notes

S.D.: standard deviation; n: number of samples; RSD: relative standard deviation.

SD: standard deviation; n: number of days; RSD: relative standard deviation.