A method for the determination of total and reduced methimazole in various biological samples

Abstract

A simple, rapid, reproducible and sensitive method based on HPLC with ultraviolet detection was developed for the determination of methimazole (MMI) in animal tissues and plasma samples. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the calibration curves for MMI were linear in the tested range 0.5–20 mg kg⁻¹ tissue sample (mg l⁻¹ plasma) with correlation coefficients better than 0.99. The performance of the proposed method was tested for the determination of MMI levels in brain, liver, thyroid gland and plasma of MMI-treated hens, as well as in their eggs and embryos. The proposed method reduces time and simplifies the sample preparation procedure.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• chicken tissue
• methimazole
• method development
• tissue homogenate
• tapazole
• thiamazole

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Lodz under Grant 506/1043 and Research Council KU Leuven under Grant OT/07/036. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organisation or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilised in the production of this manuscript.