Abstract:

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of nitrofuran metabolites
in shrimp has been established. After being extracted by 100 g/L trichloroacetic acid in methanol-water (50:50, V/V), the
four metabolites semicarbazide (SEM), 1-aminohydantoin (AHD), 5-morpholinomethyl-3-amino-2-oxazolidone (AMOZ) and
3-amino-2-oxazolidone (AOZ), were reacted with 2-chlorobenzaldehyde. The analytes were separated in a C18 column with
0.05 mol/L ammonium acetate-acetonitrile (30:70, V/V) as the mobile phase and detected by a UV detector. SEM, AHD, AMOZ
and AOZ were quantified by external standard method. The response signals were all linearly proportional to concentrations of
the four metabolites in the range of 0.1–50 nmol/mL, and the limits of detection (LODs) were calculated as 0.75, 1.2, 2.0 and
1.0 μg/kg, respectively. The maximum values of the four metabolites accumulated in shrimp muscle were found to be 51.5,
35.8, 79.3 and 127 μg/kg after the discontinuation of the drugs, and the elimination life turns out to be 21, 15, 17 and 23 days
in this study, respectively.

Key words: high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), nitrofuran metabolites, metabolism, shrimp