PHARMACEUTICAL ACTIVE COMPOUNDS (PhACs) IN FISH: A REVIEW OF ANALYTICAL STRATEGIES FOR THEIR DETERMINATION

Pharmaceutical contaminants bioaccumulate in fish tissue after being introduced into the food chain, posing a health risk to consumers due to its potential toxicity. Suitable extraction techniques remain a key issue due to the matrix interference from fish tissues. This research paper reviews and evaluates analytical approaches for extracting and analysing amlodipine, simvastatin, hydrochlorothiazide, diclofenac, acetylsalicylic acid, and paracetamol in fish tissue. Articles were screened according to preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to ensure rigorous selection criteria. Extraction methods that use polar solvents were found to be effective in extracting these compounds due to the solvents polarity and capacity for hydrogen bonding, though acidified solvents exhibited high recovery rates for basic compounds. Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction (UAE) with polar solvents emerged as a dominant technique owing to its simplicity, ability to minimise handling time and solvent use, high extraction yield, and preservation of thermolabile compounds. Furthermore, compound separation and detection were predominantly conducted using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with C18 columns as the stationary phase, offering advantages over Gas Chromatography (GC) methods by eliminating the derivatisation steps. Future research endeavours should optimise and develop new extraction techniques to minimise matrix interference in biota sample analysis, thereby enhancing the accuracy of pharmaceutical contaminant detection in fish tissues.