Simultaneous determination of polar pharmaceuticals and personal care products in biological organs and tissues

• Analytical method for 17 polar PPCPs in various biological tissues was developed.
• Silica gel chromatography and gel permeation chromatography provide high sensitivity.
• Contamination of fish-eating birds in Japan by triclosan was revealed.
• Tissue-specific BAFs and partition ratios (brain/plasma) in wild fish were showed.

In the present study, a sensitive and accurate isotope dilution method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 17 polar pharmaceutical and personal care product (PPCP) residues (log Kow = 1.40–5.74), including 14 pharmaceuticals and 3 personal care products, in biological organs and tissues. The proposed method involved enzymatic hydrolysis, followed by sequential clean-up using silica gel chromatography and gel permeation chromatography, and analysis via ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. This method yielded acceptable absolute recoveries (48–88%) and internal standard-corrected recoveries (90–130%) for 17 PPCPs. Method detection limits were between 0.0092 and 3.2 ng g−1 wet weight, and the limits of quantification were between 0.020 and 8.7 ng g−1 wet weight. The method can be used to readily detect the target compounds at trace levels while minimizing the required sample volume. The developed method was applied to the determination of 17 PPCPs in the liver and kidney of 17 birds collected from Japan and also in the plasma, liver, and brain of 7 cyprinoid fish from an effluent-dominated stream in Japan. Triclosan was detected in 5 of 11 fish-eating birds but not in non-fish-eating birds, suggesting the contamination of prey fish by the chemical. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antibacterial agents, and psychotropic agents were frequently detected in the fish tissues. In addition, 7 of the target compounds were found in fish brain. The median brain/plasma ratios of the psychotropic agents ranged from 1.6 (carbamazepine) to 12 (diphenhydramine), indicating high transportability to fish brain.