Residue depletion of cefquinome in swine tissues after intramuscular administration

A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with ultraviolet (UV) detection was developed for the detection of cefquinome (CEQ) residues in swine tissues. The limit of detection (LOD) of the method was 5 ng g(-1) for muscle and 10 ng g(-1) for fat, liver, and kidney. Mean recoveries of CEQ in all fortified samples at a concentration range of 20-500 ng g(-1) were 80.5-86.0% with coefficient of variation (CV) below 10.3%. Residue depletion study of CEQ in swine was conducted after five intramuscular injections at a dose of 2 mg kg(-1) of body weight with 24 h intervals. CEQ residue concentrations were detected in muscle, fat, liver, and kidney using the HPLC-UV method at 265 nm. The highest CEQ concentration was measured in kidney tissue during the study period, indicating that kidney was the target tissue for CEQ. CEQ concentrations in all examined tissues were below the accepted maximum residue limit (MRL) recommended by the Committee for Veterinary Medical Products of European Medical Evaluation Agency (EMEA) at 3 days post-treatment.