The Analysis of Sulphonamide Drug Residues in Pork Muscle using Automated Dialysis

Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of automated dialysis, using a commercial system, for the analysis of sulphonamides in porcine tissue. The system involves automated dialysis, followed by trace enrichment of the dialysate prior to HPLC determination. The procedure was applied to the analysis of nine sulphonamide drug residues using reversed phase HPLC as the method of determination. Muscle samples were blended in saline, centrifuged and the supernatant was filtered before dialysis for an optimised time of 11 min. The resulting dialysate was concentrated on a reversed phase trace enrichment cartridge prior to HPLC analysis with UV detection at 280 nm. The developed method was evaluated by carrying out intra- and inter-assays on fortified porcine muscle. Mean recoveries, evaluated from the inter-assay study, were 80% or higher for the nine sulphonamides studied and the limit of determination for the method was 40 ng g−1.