Development of an Analytical Method for Detection of Anesthetics and Sedatives in Fish

Abstract

Background: Anesthetics and sedatives are frequently used to prevent abrasions caused by stress and to facilitate fish management. However, drug residues may persist and cause changes in fish conditions and induce side effects. In addition, drugs that are not permitted for use in edible fish are sometimes potentially used in fish. The drugs can also be found in wastewater and are likely to be detected in fish.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish a quantitative analytical method for 10 anesthetic and sedative (azaperone, chlorpromazine, diazepam, estazolam, haloperidol, nitrazepam, nordiazepam, oxazepam, perphenazine, and temazepam) residues in fish sold in Korean markets.

Method: Shrimp, flounder, and eel samples were selected as matrices. Acetonitrile (ACN) containing 0.1% formic acid was selected as an extraction solvent for shrimp and 100% ACN for flounder and eel. The QuEChERS method with C18 and primary secondary amine (PSA) was used as the extraction procedure, and the analysis was performed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Results: Limit of quantitation, recovery, accuracy, and precision were validated, and satisfactory results were obtained for the drugs. All results applied to the real samples were negative.

Conclusions: An optimal validation method was studied. Since the results for all samples were negative, it is considered that additional studies are needed by increasing the number of drugs.

Highlights: The most effective QuEChERS pretreatment method and conditions of LC-MS/MS for the analysis of anesthetics and sedatives in fish were established.