Liquid chromatographic determination of olaquindox in medicated feeds and in contents of porcine gastrointestinal tract

A liquid chromatographic method for the determination of olaquindox in both medicated feeds and porcine gastrointestinal tract is described. Samples are extracted with water and cleaned on a disposable reverse-phase column. The eluate is chromatographed on a reverse-phase column under isocratic conditions. Olaquindox is detected by UV absorption at 260 nm. The minimum amount detected by this method was 0.075 ng. The corresponding minimum detectable concentration in a 1 g sample was 0.3 mg/kg. The detector response was linear within the interval of 0-500 ng. Mean recovery of olaquindox in spiked gastrointestinal samples was 89 +/- 5% (mean +/- standard deviation, n = 43). Concentration profiles of olaquindox in the gastrointestinal tract of pigs fed medicated feed were used to evaluate the preventive potency against Treponema hyodysenteriae. The presence of some N-O reduced metabolites of olaquindox in the gastrointestinal tract was assessed.