Development of an immunobiosensor assay for the beta-adrenergic compound zilpaterol

[Determination of Zilpaterol in Livestock Products by LC-MS/MS]

An analytical method for the determination of zilpaterol in livestock products was developed. The sample was stirred with n-hexane and n-hexane saturated acetonitrile, and zilpaterol in the sample was extracted with acetonitrile. The extract was cleaned up on a ODS cartridge column (1 g) and SCX cartridge column (500 mg). The LC separation was carried out using an Inertsil ODS-4 column and linear gradient elution with 0.1%formic acid and acetonitrile containing 0.1% formic acid as mobile phase. Detection of MS was carried out positive ion electrospray ionization mode. Average recoveries (n=5) of zilpaterol from 6 kinds of livestock products fortified at the MRLs (0.01 mg/kg) were 87.0-99.4%, and the relative standard deviations were 2.4-6.3%. The limits of quantitation were 0.01 mg/kg.

Noble metal nanostructures in optical biosensors: Basics, and their introduction to anti-doping detection

Nanotechnology has illustrated significant potentials in biomolecular-sensing applications; particularly its introduction to anti-doping detection is of great importance. Illicit recreational drugs, substances that can be potentially abused, and drugs with dosage limitations according to the prohibited lists announced by the World Antidoping Agency (WADA) are becoming of increasing interest to forensic chemists. In this review, the theoretical principles of optical biosensors based on noble metal nanoparticles, and the transduction mechanism of commonly-applied plasmonic biosensors are covered. We review different classes of recently-developed plasmonic biosensors for analytic determination and quantification of illicit drugs in anti-doping applications. The important classes of illicit drugs include anabolic steroids, opioids, stimulants, and peptide hormones. The main emphasis is on the advantages that noble metal nano-particles bring to optical biosensors for signal enhancement and the development of highly sensitive (label-free) biosensors. In the near future, such optical biosensors may be an invaluable substitute for conventional anti-doping detection methods such as chromatography-based approaches, and may even be commercialized for routine anti-doping tests.

Development and Application of a Method for Rapid and Simultaneous Determination of Three β-agonists (Clenbuterol, Ractopamine, and Zilpaterol) using Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry

β-agonists are anabolic compounds that promote fat loss and muscle gain, and their administration to livestock may provide economic benefits by increasing growth rate and feed efficiency. For these reasons, β-agonists are also commonly added to livestock feed as growth promoters. This can introduce a significant risk of secondary human poisoning through intake of contaminated meat. A new method for the simultaneous determination of three β-agonists (clenbuterol, ractopamine, and zilpaterol) was developed in this study and applied to various meat samples. The limits of quantification, derived through a validation test following Codex guidelines, were 0.2 μg/kg for clenbuterol and zilpaterol, and 0.4 μg/kg for ractopamine. The average recoveries for clenbuterol, ractopamine, and zilpaterol ranged from 109.1% to 118.3%, 95.3% to 109.0%, and 94.1% to 120.0%, respectively. The recovery and coefficient of variation (CV) values fell within the acceptable range according to the Codex guidelines. This method reduced the analysis time without decreasing detection efficiency by modifying the pretreatment steps. This method could be utilized to manage the safety of imported meat products from countries where zilpaterol use is still permitted, thereby improving public health and preventing β-agonist poisoning due to secondary contamination.

Affinity-based biosensors in sport medicine and doping control analysis

Affinity-based biosensors (ABBs) have started to be considered in sport medicine and doping control analysis because they are cheap, easy to use and sufficiently selective analytical devices, characterized by a reversible interaction with the analyte under investigation allowing the use of the same sensor for multiple analyses. In this review we describe the main categories of substances reported in the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List and how ABBs may contribute to their detection. Although several ABBs proposed in the last few years display limit of detections that are in principle matching the World Anti-Doping Agency requirements, their application in the framework of 'traditional' antidoping tests seems quite unlikely, mainly because of the still insufficient selectivity especially in the case of 'pseudo-endogenous' compounds, and on the lack of complete information regarding potential matrix effects in real samples and following their routine use. At the same time, ABBs could contribute to fill a significant information gap concerning complementary evidence that can be obtained from their use 'on the spot', as well as to preselect a risk population of individuals to be targeted for a full antidoping test; while in sport medicine they could contribute to obtaining analytical information of physiological relevance from the measurement of specific parameters or markers before, during and after physical exercise.

Depletion of urinary zilpaterol residues in horses as measured by ELISA and UPLC-MS/MS

Three horses were dosed with dietary zilpaterol and the urine concentrations measured from withdrawal day 0 to withdrawal day 21. The analyses were carried out using both enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and an ultraperformance liquid chromatography with triple-quadrupole-tandem mass spectrometric detection (UPLC-MS/MS). The UPLC-MS/MS method was developed to provide rapid analysis with positive analyte identification by following three product ions and computing the two independent ion ratios. When urinary zilpaterol concentrations were between 0.2 and 2 ng/mL, the ELISA had interday recoveries of 114-120% with coefficients of variation (CV) of <22%; intraday recoveries were 79-111% with CVs of <13%. For urinary zilpaterol concentrations of 0.4-40 ng/mL the UPLC-MS/MS method had interday recoveries of 94-104% with CVs of <8%; intraday recoveries were 97-102% with CVs of < or = 7.5%. Correlation analysis demonstrated that the ELISA and UPLC-MS/MS methods returned essentially the same results, especially at urinary zilpaterol concentrations below 2000 ng/mL. Urinary excretion peaked rapidly after dosing between 5300 and 10800 ng/mL (UPLC-MS/MS) or between 5900 and 17900 ng/mL (ELISA) for the different horses, much higher than observed in other species. Urinary zilpaterol concentrations declined rapidly to below 3000 ng/mL within 24 h of study day 1. After about 5 days, zilpaterol elimination slowed markedly, taking nearly 10 days for an order of magnitude decrease. The analytical methods were able to detect zilpaterol in the urine even at withdrawal day 21, demonstrating the sensitivity of each analytical method and the slow rate of zilpaterol depuration from horses.

Survey of the year 2005 commercial optical biosensor literature

We identified 1113 articles (103 reviews, 1010 primary research articles) published in 2005 that describe experiments performed using commercially available optical biosensors. While this number of publications is impressive, we find that the quality of the biosensor work in these articles is often pretty poor. It is a little disappointing that there appears to be only a small set of researchers who know how to properly perform, analyze, and present biosensor data. To help focus the field, we spotlight work published by 10 research groups that exemplify the quality of data one should expect to see from a biosensor experiment. Also, in an effort to raise awareness of the common problems in the biosensor field, we provide side-by-side examples of good and bad data sets from the 2005 literature.