LIVE-FOOD MEDIATED DRUG DELIVERY AS A TOOL FOR DISEASE TREATMENT IN LARVICULTURE - THE ENRICHMENT OF THERAPEUTICS IN ROTIFERS AND ARTEMIA NAUPLII

The live food enrichment technique using emulsions for correcting nutritional deficiencies in rotifers and Artemia was further investigated as a tool for transferring therapeutics through the food chain. Artemia nauplii and the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis were enriched with a self-emulsifying concentrate in which the therapeutic mixture trimethoprim: sulfamethoxazole was incorporated. An analytical method and protocol for the quantification of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole in a heterogeneous biological matrix, such as Artemia, was developed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. When applying a 24-h enrichment period, the accumulation of both drugs in Artemia nauplii appeared to be linearly related to the concentration of the drugs in the enrichment product. Values of approximately 790 mg/kg of total drugs (protein basis; or 290 mg/kg on dry weight basis) could be obtained. In rotifers, the level of total therapeutics reached a value of about 116 mg/kg (protein basis) after 6 h of enrichment. The ratio of the two drugs detected in rotifers was different from the one found in Artemia, suggesting different accumulation kinetics.