Detection of seven β2-agonists in teeth by LC-MS/MS: preliminary results.
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Parole chiave

Bovine
teeth
β2-agonists
Residues
HPLC-MS/MS.

Abstract

β2-agonists are powerful tocolytic (the only use permitted in cattle) and bronchodilator agents, but
may also be administered as growth promoters to improve the production of lean meat increasing also
the lipolytic activity. Although the European Union (EU), China and other Asian countries have banned
the use of β2-agonists for growth promoting purposes (European Union, 2003), the United States of
America (USA) authorised ractopamine as a feed additive for swine, cattle and turkey. These veterinary
drugs, generally show high clearance rates in the conventional biological matrices, as well as urine, liver
and muscle, making difficult their detection (Wu, 2014). For this reason, we suggested bovine teeth as
a new unconventional matrix of accumulation in a more long-time window, for the detection of
cimaterol, clenbuterol, isoxsuprine, mabuterol, ractopamine, salbutamol and terbutaline. In literature,
the few studies on teeth are limited to human (Andra, 2015) and are absent for veterinary medicine.
The samples extracted by a simple liquid extraction step with ethyl acetate:tert-butyl methyl ether (4:1,
v/v) after washing and pulverization of teeth, through a ball mill, were analysed using a liquid
chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) confirmatory method validated according to
the Commission Decision 2002/657/EC criteria (European Union, 2002). Teeth from 8 veal calves,
administered per os with 80 mg day-1 oral ractopamine for 32 days, and from seven random bovines
from the food chain were collected at the slaughterhouse to test the suitability of this matrix. The
results demonstrated ractopamine presence in teeth from the treated animals (average concentration
8.90 ng g-1). Isoxsuprine was found in a control sample (13.67 ng g-1), demonstrating the effectiveness
of this matrix as a powerful tool to ensure illegal treatment.

https://doi.org/10.13130/2283-3927/7020
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Riferimenti bibliografici

Andra, S.S., Austin, C., Arora, M., 2015. Tooth matrix analysis for biomonitoring of organic chemical exposure: Current status, challenges, and opportunities. Environ. Res. 142, 387-406.

European Union, 2002. Commission Decision concerning the performance of analytical methods and the interpretation of results. Off. J. Eur. Comm. L221, 8-36.

European Union, 2003. Council directive 2003/74/EC amending Council Directive 96/22/EC concerning the prohibition on the use of stock farming of certain substances having a hormonal or thyrostatic action and of β-agonists. Off. J. Eur. Union. L262, p.17.

Wu, J., Liu, X., Peng, Y., 2014. Determination of ractopamine in pig hair using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric detection. J. Pharmacol. Toxicol. Meth. 69, 211-216.

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