New HPLC and Gc-MS methods for the investigation of cypermethrin in edile portions of fish: development, validation and comparison

Cypermethrin (CYP) is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide widely used for the treatment of sea lice in Atlantic sea salmon farming. Although CYP treatments are useful against this parasite, the toxicity of this insecticide in aquatic organisms is high. In fish, CYP provokes a toxic effect to the CNS, causes structural changes in gills, an increase in renal extraction of Na+ and K+, and alteration of osmo-regulatory mechanisms (Bradbury and Coats, 1989). Moreover, CYP rapidly reduces zooplankton density and irreversibly changes its biodiversity (Medina et al., 2002). Further studies about CYP toxicity in aquatic animals and development of a specific, validated analytical method for CYP detection and quantification in target species, have been requested by EMEA in order to avoid toxicological problems. The aim of this work was to develop and validate a new HPLC and GC–MS method for the identification, measurement/quantification of CYP in edible portions of fish.