Liquid Chromatographic Assays of Antimicrobial Agents

Chromatographic methods for tetracycline analysis in foods

The tetracyclines have served for decades as an important class of antibiotics in food animal health and production. As such, they have also been a source of concern for residue monitoring authorities around the world. In response to this concern a number of microbial inhibition, immunoassay and bacterial receptor methods have evolved for the detection of this class of compounds in various foods of animal origin. However, these methods often lack specificity and are subject to false positive and false negative results. For these reasons a number of chromatographic methods for the separation and determination of the tetracyclines isolated from foods have been developed that are capable of identifying and quantifying individual tetracycline drugs. We present here an overview of tetracycline analytical methods, including microbial inhibition, immunoassay and receptor technologies for detection, techniques for isolation from food matrices, and thin-layer chromatographic, high-performance liquid chromatographic, gas chromatographic and mass spectrometric procedures for determination of this class of compounds. A discussion of the variables involved in such methodology and a review of method criteria are offered.

Determination of ampicillin in biological fluids by coupled-column liquid chromatography and post-column derivatization

A rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of ampicillin in plasma and urine. The method involves a simple deproteinization step and separation on a coupled-column chromatographic system followed by post-column derivatization and fluorescence detection. The method has been used for the determination of ampicillin in various clinical studies. The high sensitivity makes it especially useful for small sample volumes, e.g. samples from pediatric patients.

Method for the isolation and liquid chromatographic determination of eight sulfonamides in milk

A method for the isolation and liquid chromatographic determination of eight sulfonamides in milk is presented. Fortified or blank milk samples (0.5 ml) were blended with octadecylsilyl (C18T) derivatized silica (2 g). A column made from the sample C18T matrix was first washed with hexane (8 ml) following which the sulfonamides were eluted with methylene chloride (8 ml). The eluate contained sulfonamide analytes which were free from interferences when analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) utilizing UV detection (270 nm, photodiode array). Standard curve correlation coefficients (range, 0.998 +/- 0.002 to 0.999 +/- 0.001), average percentage recoveries (73.1 +/- 7.4 to 93.7 +/- 2.7%), and the inter-(3.9-9.6%) and intra-assay (2.2-6.7%) variabilities, were determined for the concentration range examined (62.5-2000 ng/ml) and resulted in a minimal detectable limit of 1.25 ng on column (62.5 ng/ml, 20 microliters injection from a final sample volume of 0.5 ml). Savings in terms of time and solvent make this procedure attractive when compared to classical isolation techniques for sulfonamides.

Advances in liquid chromatography and related methodologies for therapeutic drug monitoring

In this article the merits of current liquid chromatography (LC) columns and techniques are reviewed, to include the following topics: (1) a brief introduction to rational therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) to justify drug measurements; (2) selected recent survey results from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) to establish the current utilization pattern of LC for TDM in the USA; (3) LC analyses of major classes of drugs--antiarrhythmics, antidepressants, antiepileptics, antimicrobials, cyclosporine, and others--with emphasis on analysis of these drugs in human serum or plasma, by focusing on the less usual, reversed-phase functional groups such as CN and phenyl, and by the use of "mini" columns, silica and polymeric columns, the emphasis being reduced on the well-established C-18 columns; (4) high-speed LC; (5) various approaches of direct sample analysis--solvent extraction, automated sample processing, column switching, micro-injections, micellar chromatography, electrochemical detection with photolytic derivation, and the internal surface reversed-phase column of Pinkerton; (6) microbore LC drug analysis; (7) clinical chiral separation; and (8) overall conclusions.