DETERMINATION OF THE GROWTH PROMOTER, 4-HYDROXY-3-NITROPHENYL-ARSONICACID IN CHICKEN TISSUE BY COUPLED HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY

A method has been developed to measure the levels of the growth promot er 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylarsonic acid (roxarsone) in samples of tissu e from chickens fed on a diet supplemented with this compound. Extract s of the tissue were prepared for analysis by a trypsin enzymolysis di gestion technique and bulk matrix separation was performed by anion-ex change column chromatography. Further separation of the roxarsone from other species was achieved using reversed-phase high-performance liqu id chromatography. Detection of the arsenical compound was by inductiv ely coupled plasma mass spectrometry. No roxarsone was detected in chi ckens fed on the supplemented diet with or without a withdrawal period (7 d on base feed after the administration period) at a quantificatio n limit of 25 ng g-1. Recoveries for roxarsone from spiked (standard a dditions) samples of chicken tissue varied between 85 and 103%.