Sample Preparation Techniques for Growth-Promoting Agents in Various Mammalian Specimen Preceding MS-Analytics.

The misuse of growth-promoting drugs such as beta-2 agonists and steroids is a known problem in farming and sports competitions. Prior to the analysis of biological samples via liquid chromatography (LC)-mass spectrometry (MS) or gas chromatography (GC)-MS, sufficient sample preparation is required to reliably identify or determine the residues of drugs. In practice, broad screening methods are often used to save time and analyze as many compounds as possible. This review was conceptualized to analyze the literature from 2018 until October 2023 for sample preparation procedures applied to animal specimens before LC- or GC-MS analysis. The animals were either used in farming or sports. In the present review, solid phase extraction (SPE) was observed as the dominant sample clean-up technique for beta-2 agonists and steroids, followed by protein precipitation. For the extraction of beta-2 agonists, mixed-mode cation exchanger-based SPE phases were preferably applied, while for the steroids, various types of SPE materials were reported. Furthermore, dispersive SPE-based QuEChERs were utilized. Combinatory use of SPE and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) was observed to cover further drug classes in addition to beta-2 agonists in broader screening methods.

Spectrum of pharmaceutical residues in commercial manure-based organic fertilizers from multi-provinces of China mainland in relation to animal farming and possible environmental risks of fertilization.

With a long-term amendment of manure-based organic fertilizers (MOFs), significant elevations of antibiotics and their resistance genes in agricultural soil have aroused great concerns worldwide, but their relationships to animal farming and possible environmental risks of fertilization lack systematic studies. This study collected 41 commercial MOFs made from manures of chicken, swine, sheep/goat, and cattle, respectively, in 10 provinces (including autonomous regions) of China mainland with large animal farming industries. Twenty-nine compounds, consisting of 20 antibiotic compounds, sulfonamides' synergist (trimethoprim) and 8 non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals, were quantified in the collected MOF samples, ranging from below the quantification limits (<0.02 µg kg-1 dry mass) up to 110 mg kg-1 dry mass (oxytetracycline), using a high throughput protocol with 83 target compounds (37 antibiotic ones) of 6 pharmaceutical categories. Antibiotic compounds of tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones collectively dominated pharmaceutical residues in the MOF samples, accounting for 71.9-99.9 % of total loads, except 6 samples. Pharmaceuticals for human use only (4 antibiotic and 4 non-antibiotic compounds) and for both human and veterinary uses (5 antibiotic and 1 non-antibiotic compounds) were quantified in the MOF samples according to the Chinese pharmacopeia. The MOF samples made from chicken and swine manures (mainly captivity) had greater number, frequency, and level of the quantified pharmaceutical compounds than the ones made from sheep/goat and cattle manures (mainly grazing). Antibiotics, particularly enrofloxacin and oxytetracycline, in the MOF samples would lead to medium risks to microorganisms and invertebrates in soil and high risk to plants, and considerable risk to antibiotic resistance selection if applied in agricultural soils. Findings of this study suggest that pharmaceutical contaminations should be taken into account for the quality guidelines of the commercial MOFs as well as other pollutants (such as heavy metals), especially the MOFs made from manures of the captive chicken and swine.