Abstract

DETERMINATION OF OXYTETRACYCLINE RESIDUES IN UNTREATED AND TREATED DRINKING WATER IN BINDURA TOWN BY RP-HPLC-UV VISIBLE SPECTROMETRY AFTER ULTRASONIC ASSISTED DISPERSIVE SOLID PHASE EXTRACTION (UA-DSPE)

Pamhidzai Dzomba*, Mark F. Zaranyika, Jameson Kugara, Tonderai Zhanda

Abstract

The study was concerned with determining levels of oxytetracycline in untreated and treated drinking water in Bindura town. Ultrasonic Assisted Dispersive Solid Phase Extraction (UA-DSPE) was employed to extract oxytetracycline from its matrix. Quantitative analysis was carried out using HPLC coupled to a UV-Vis detector set at 360nm. The overall mean recovery from water samples was 98.6 ± 3.66%. The Limit of Detection (LOD) and Limit of Quantification (LOQ) were found to be 11.55 and 35.05 ng/ml respectively. Oxytetracycline was present in all the untreated water samples from Bindura with values ranging from 0.0611 ± 0.000865μg/ml to 0.1495±0.001085μg/ml. No oxytetracycline was detected in most treated water samples except for two samples from Chipadze and Chiwaridzo. Chipadze recorded 0.0711 ± 0.000071μg/ml whilst Chiwaridzo had 0.0660 ± 0.000798μg/ml and these values are even higher than some obtained for untreated water. This anomaly may be due to contamination of treated water with sewage as these areas are frequently faced with serious water and sewer pipe bursts. Unregulated chicken raring is also very high. It may be possible that oxytetracycline which is the widely used antibiotic may have been washed from the vegetable gardens by runoff. Occurrence of oxytetracycline in both treated and untreated water may pose a health risk to the general public. Microbial resistance may develop and reduce successes of pharmaceuticals that share the same structure activity relationship with oxytetracycline.

Keywords: Oxytetracycline, Ultrasonic Assisted Dispersive Solid Phase Extraction, HPLCUV, microbial resistance.