Abstract

Antibiotic concentrations are typically measured using solid-phase extraction along with liquid chromatography, but this process is not practical due to a large number of man hours involved. The use of a lyophilizer with high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) is an accurate and cost-effective method of analyzing antibiotics in water samples. An initial antibiotic analysis methodology was developed with the goal of concentrating antibiotics in water samples for greater detection; however, it was observed that the methodology required additional refinement to improve accuracy, particularly when manure was present in the water samples. Based on prior tetracycline antibiotic research, we hypothesized that sample preparation techniques and HLPC characteristics would influence our ability to detect these antibiotics in water samples. We anticipated that analysis of larger sample volumes would improve antibiotic detection while higher manure concentrations would decrease detection capabilities. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of a secondary sample preparation step (filtration), mobile phase solution, HPLC column, sample volumes, wavelengths, and manure concentrations on the recovery rates of three common antibiotics, specifically chlortetracycline (CTC), tetracycline (TC), and oxytetracycline (OTC). The study examined three filtration methods, two mobile phase solutions, two HPLC columns, five sample volumes, three wavelengths, and four manure concentrations. Best results were obtained with a mobile phase solution of acetonitrile with 0.05% formic acid, the Acclaim® RSLC C18 PA2 column, smaller sample volumes, and a wavelength of 356nm. This study highlighted some of the challenges associated with detecting antibiotics in water samples. The accurate detection of antibiotics in water samples is an important step in developing and testing methods to reduce antibiotic transport in the environment.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2017

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Journal of Young Investigators, v. 33, issue 1, p. 19-27.

© Qualls, Agouridis, Kulshrestha 2017

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.22186/jyi.33.1.19-27

Funding Information

The authors would like to thank the University of Kentucky’s Office of Sustainability for funding the project, Brent Howard and Hoods Heritage Hogs for donating the antibiotic-free swine manure used in this study, and the entire Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department for their understanding when an odorous bucket of swine manure exploded in the laboratory.

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