β2-Adrenergic agonists (β-agonists) have been legally used in the U.S. since the mid 1980s to increase lean muscle mass in meat animals
(1-2). In many countries, including European Union countries (3) andChina (4), these drugs have been banned due to their adverse e?ectson humans, such as food poisoning (5), cardiovascular and centralnervous diseases (6). Residue analysis on these target compounds iscarried out by several control laboratories in order to protect theconsumer, guarantee fair trade and enforce the ban (7).
It is common prac]ce to include a hydrolysis reac]on to cleave theglucuronidelinkage when extrac]ng conjugatedanalytesfrombiological samples to measure the total drug concentra]on. Varioussources of β-glucuronidaseexist such asHelixpoma+a(H.poma+a),Escherichia coli (E. coli), bovine liver,Patellavulga:aand abalone,with each exhibi]ng di?erent hydrolysis e?ciencies and rates. Thepurpose of this study was to compare two di?erent enzyme sources,recombinant β-glucuronidase(IMCSzyme) andHelixpoma+aβ-glucuronidase(Helix B-Gus) and op]mized hydrolysis ]me to achievethe most e?cient hydrolysis of beta-agonists in meat matrix.