Methodological Approaches to Determination of Antibiotics in Water at the Level of Hygienic Standards Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Introduction: The use of antibiotics in medicine and veterinary medicine has led to their accumulation in the natural environment, including source water, and antimicrobial resistance of certain types of bacteria. The development of methods for analyzing antibiotics in aquatic environments is relevant for ensuring tap water quality control at the level of hygienic standards, as well as for studying the process of development and spread of antibiotic resistance.

The purpose of the study is to develop a method for determining such antibiotics as macrolides, penicillins, and fluoroquinolones in water at the level of hygienic standards using HPLC/MS-MS.

Materials and methods: To elaborate the method, testing was done by HPLC/MS-MS using a liquid chromatograph with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Extraction of antibiotics from various types of water samples (tap, natural) was carried out by solid-phase extraction.

Results: We have developed a selective and highly sensitive method for the determination of eight antibiotics in water samples. The extraction efficiency for analytes ranged from 72 to 100 % and measured concentrations – from 0.25 to 2.50 of hygienic standards when analyzing 10 cm³ water samples; the relative error in determining antibiotics in water samples without concentration was 20–24 %, and 24–34 % in case of concentration on Oasis® HLB sorbent.

Discussion: Approaches to developing a method for quantification of antibiotics of the penicillin, macrolide and quinolone classes in water by HPLC/MS-MS using solid-phase extraction for sample preparation are considered. The results are consistent with the data of scientific, technical and methodological literature. The advantages of this method include shorter sample preparation time, high sensitivity, and a small sample size.

Conclusion: Our method can be used in hygienic studies of residual amounts of antibiotics to assess source water quality.

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