Determination of nitroimidazole residues in poultry tissues, serum and eggs by high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for determination of dimetridazole and metronidazole residues in poultry muscle, liver, serum and eggs. The drug residues were extracted from tissues and egg samples with acetonitrile followed by solid-phase extraction clean-up and HPLC analysis with photodiode array detector. Serum samples were treated with trichloroacetic acid, centrifuged and analysed without further clean-up. The detection limits were 2 ng/g and 5 ng/mL of analysed tissue (egg) and serum samples, respectively. Average recoveries for spike levels of 10 and 20 ng/g ranged from 82 to 94%, and coefficients of variation were below 10%.