Spectrofluorimetric determination of tetracycline and anhydrotetracycline in serum and urine.

A spectrofluorimetric method, involving alkaline degradation and formation of a magnesium complex, is described for the determination of tetracycline (TC) and anhydrotetracycline (ATC) in their mixed solution. Tetracycline is degraded and determined in alkaline solution. This treatment of ATC produces almost no fluorescence, but a fluorescent magnesium complex forms at pH 7.5. Several synthetic samples of TC and ATC, with TC:ATC ratios ranging from 50:1 to 1:50, were analysed. The recoveries of TC and ATC are about 71-76 and 61-63% in serum, respectively, and are all about 100% in urine.