Contamination of the environment by pharmaceuticals, quinolones among them, is recognized as an emerging issue of concern to scientists and the public. Literature on the environmental analysis of quinolones has addressed a very small percentage of these compounds, and the analytical methods developed to determine them are very scarce. By contrast, a large number of methods have been proposed for their analysis in food, which has classically been considered the source of these residues for human beings. Although both matrices, food and environment, differ, most of the information obtained from one field can be applied to the other. However, to be able to do this, there is need for critical discussion about how analytical determination is carried out in each case. This review summarizes the most relevant issues that condition the analogies and the contrasts between food and environmental matrices in the analysis of quinolones. We describe and compare the target analytes and their relevant levels. We also critically review the approaches to extraction (e.g., solvent extraction (SE), pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE)), depending on the sample characteristics. We also detail the main analytical techniques (e.g., liquid chromatography (LC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) combined with UV, fluorescence (FLD) and mass spectrometry (MS), immunoassays and biosensors) used to identify and to quantify quinolone residues in both matrices. We present an updated overview of the recent uses and future prospects for the different analytical methods employed in food and environmental samples.

The work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (Projects AGL2006-04438/ALI and CONSOLIDER CGL2006-11619).

23 páginas, 5 figuras, 5 tablas.

Peer reviewed