Analyse par spectrométrie de masse des antibiotiques vétérinaires liés à l’élevage porcin

Swine production is a major source of antibiotic release into the environment via manure spreading on agricultural fields. It has been shown that these biologically active compounds may have a toxic impact on ecosystems. Moreover, they are also suspected to cause health problems and contribute to bacterial resistance that could lead to difficult-to-treat infections in humans. Therefore, control of these substances in the environment is necessary. Several analytical methods are proposed in the scientific literature to identify these compounds in various matrices. However, few of these methods allowed the analysis of these contaminants in matrices derived from intensive livestock farming. Furthermore, the analytical methods available are often subject to false positives, given the complexity samples and the equipment used and do not take into account the metabolites and degradation products. Finally, concentration levels reached with these methods are sometimes outdated since the evolution of analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry. In this context, new analytical methods have been developed to investigate and quantify the antibiotics derived from swine husbandry to propose alternative, sensible, selective and robust approaches to quantify these molecules. A first analytical method has been proposed based on an alternative sample introduction technique using the laser diode thermal desorption interface with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization source coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The objective was to provide a simpler and faster analysis while reaching levels suitable for the studied matrix. This alternative sample introduction method coupled with an efficient sample processing allowed the analysis of several classes of veterinary antibiotics in swine manure in a short analysis time. Detection limits ranged between 2.5 and 8.3 µg kg-1 and are comparable with those obtained with liquid chromatography in a similar matrix. In order to simultaneously analyze a series of tetracyclines, a second analytical method using liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was proposed. The use of HRMS was motivated by the fact that this mass spectrometer is less sensitive to false positive that the traditional triple quadrupole given the complexity of the studied matrix. Detection limits between 1.5 and 3.6 µg kg-1 have been achieved in swine manure using a fragmentation analysis mode to avoid false positives. Targeted screening methods are interesting approaches when contaminants are suspected to be present in a sample. However, a non-included contaminant in this targeted analysis method could not been detected even at a high concentration. In this context, a non-target compound screening method focused on veterinary pharmaceutical compounds in swine manure was developed using liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry. A polymeric SPE cartridge was used to collect polar compounds including pharmaceuticals prior analysis. This method allowed the identification of antibiotics and pharmaceuticals of commonly used in swine farming. Most of the analytical methods available in the literature focus on parent compounds, regardless degradation products. The approach used in the second method of analysis was applied and extended to other classes of antibiotics to measure concentrations of several antibiotic residues in soils and drainage waters of an experimental agricultural field. Field soil contained a mixture of antibiotics and their related degradation products with concentrations measured up to 1020 µg kg-1. Some of these compounds have migrated through the field via drainage waters wherein concentrations up to 3200 ng L-1 were observed.

Keyphrases: Veterinary antibiotics, Laser diode thermal desorption, Liquid chromatography, Mass spectrometry, High-resolution mass spectrometry