Determination of Astaxanthin in Trout by High Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Visible Detection

Background: Astaxanthin is widely and naturally distributed in marine animals including, crustaceans, such as shrimp, crabs, and fish, such as salmon and trout. Methods: A total of 20 trout samples were collected from local market and were analyzed for astaxanthin via HPLC-UV. Analyte extraction was done by water, methanol, dichloromethane, and acetonitrile 4.5:85:5:45.5, v/v/v/v. Results: Despite the optimal conditions, analytical property of the method containing lower limit of quantitation (2.00 ng g-1) and upper limit of quantitation (1000 ng g-1), linearity (r2=0.992), and recovery (103%) were acceptable. The results showed the range of 105 ± 0.09 - 875 ± 0.020 ng g-1. Conclusion: The method was successfully used to quantify the target analytes in all trout samples.