Diethylstilbestrol cleanup

Diethylstilbestrol is particularly difficult to quantitate below 1.0 ppb in bovine tissues, especially in liver, which is among the last tissues to contain diethystilbestrol after cattle are withdrawn from receiving tire drug (101, 102). Interferences from tissue matrix constitute a major problem that might be due to nonspecific interference of lipids and fatty compounds (103, 104). In addition, problems with false-positive results often appear in urine analysis unless a chromatographic step such as a solid-phase extraction cleanup (105, 106) is introduced. Simple sample preparation procedures such as those based on solvent extraction and liquid-liquid partitioning do not usually give satisfactory results (107, 108). 

Since many interferences with diethylstilbestrol analysis are caused by undefined sources, use of a highly specific antibody would probably not correct the problem. Nevertheless, several attempts to prepare a drug-specific antibody have been made without success. Thus, more emphasis was finally placed on developing more efficient extraction and cleanup procedures to ensure selectivity. Current methods combine several cleanup steps based on different isolation principles to provide adequately purified sample extracts for the determination of diethystilbes-trol by radioimmunoassays (Table 28.4). 

Diethylstilbestrol and metabolite Bovine liver MeOH extn, enzymatic deconjugation, liq-liq partn, Sephadex LH-20 column cleanup, Radioimmunoassay H-DES 184... 

A three-phase liquid-liquid partitioning consisting of hexane, acetonitrile, and dichloromethane has also proven to be a preferred cleanup method for diethylstilbestrol and zeranol (455), trenbolone and epitrenbolone (445), trenbolone and nortestosterone (446), and melengestrol residues (456) in tissues. Following adjustment of the initial aqueous acetonitrile sample extract at pH 13, most of the polar and ionic acidic matrix components were directed into the aqueous layer during the partitioning process, while the low-polarity components were extracted... 

An alternative cleanup procedure is the partition of the raw extract, which often contains considerable amounts of lipid material, between an organic and an aqueous sodium hydroxide phase. With this partitioning scheme, the analytes are further fractionated into estrogens and nonestrogens. The presence of phenolic groups in the molecules of estrogens such as diethylstilbestrol and zeranol ensures their complete extraction from organic phases such as chloroform or tert.-butyl methyl ether into the aqueous sodium hydroxide phase (435, 438, 447). Further purification could be accomplished by neutralization of the sodium hydroxide solution and back-extraction of the contained diethylstilbestrol into diethyl ether (435), or adjustment of the pH of the sodium hydroxide solution to 10.6-10.8 and back-extraction of the contained zeranol into a chloroform phase (447). 

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