• Simultaneous Determination of Eight Sulfonamides and Trimethoprim Antibiotics Residues in Yogurt Samples by SPE clean-up and UHPLC-MS-MS
  • Sara Kheirandish,1 Shokoufeh Goudarzi,2 Maryam Amirahmadi,3 Shiva Ghareghani,4 Bahram Daraei,5 Mahmoud Ghazi-Khansari,6,*
    1. Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    2. Food and Drug Reference Control Laboratories, Food and Drug Organization, MOH & ME, Tehran, Iran
    3. Food and Drug Reference Control Laboratories, Food and Drug Laboratory Research Center, Food and Drug Organization, MOH & ME, Tehran, Iran
    4. Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    5. Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran
    6. Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Mismanagement of antibiotic drugs in livestock is the main source of antimicrobial residues in foodstuff. The transmission of antibiotic residues via foods of animal origin to humans can be able to antibiotic resistance as one of the most serious global public health problems. The present study aimed to develop and validate a sensitive and selective method to determine antibiotic residues of eight sulfonamides and trimethoprim in low-fat yogurt samples using Ultra-High-Performance Chromatography coupled to Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS-MS) based on Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE).
  • Methods: HPLC parameters were optimized utilizing positive mode and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) method. The separation was done on the C18 column using reverse-phase and Electrospray Ionization in positive mode (ESI+).
  • Results: The mean recovery and range of relative standard deviation (RSD) were obtained from 96.4-116.5% and 0.2-19.0%, respectively. The coefficient of determination (R2) was ≥ 0.9964 in the range of 10-200 ng/g. Limit of quantification (LOQ) and limit of detection (LOD) was obtained 10 and 3.3 ng/g, respectively.
  • Conclusion: A sensitive and selective method was developed for the analysis of 9 antibiotics in 34 low-fat yogurt samples. The RSD ≤ 20% for 8 antibiotics showed the precision and accuracy of the validated method that could be applied to determine other antibiotics residues in milk and cheese.
  • Keywords: Antibiotic residue, Sulfonamide, Trimethoprim, Yogurt, UHPLC-MS-MS