Simple and rapid dipstick test for detection of dexamethasone adulteration in traditional herbal medicines

Abstract

Simple, rapid, and low-cost dipstick test has been fabricated for the detection of dexamethasone adulteration in traditional herbal medicine (Jamu) for the joint-pain killer. The dipstick test has been constructed by immobilization of FeCl3 and K3[Fe(CN)6] in cellulose acetate film as a sensing film toward dexamethasone. The sensing film changes its color from green to blue in the presence of dexamethasone. It has response time at 10 mins and good linearity in the range 0.5-75 μg/ml of dexamethasone with correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9997, with the detection limit, was 0.422 μg/ml. The dipstick tests have been successfully used for the detection of dexamethasone adulteration in jamu for the joint-pain killer, and the result demonstrated in good correlation with the UV spectrophotometry method. Thus, the dipstick test is simple, rapid, and low-cost; it can be used as an alternative method for the detection of dexamethasone adulteration in traditional herbal medicine.