A novel method for the determination of mercury in herbal preparation using an inhibitive assay based on the protease papain

Authors

  • S.M.A. Wahab Biotechnology Research Centre, MARDI, P. O. Box 12301, 50774 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Baskaran Gunasekaran Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, UPM 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Noor Azmi Shaharuddin Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, UPM 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • W.L.W. Johari Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • M.I.E. Halmi Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, UPM 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • N.A.M. Said Biotechnology Research Centre, MARDI, P. O. Box 12301, 50774 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • M.Y. Shukor Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, UPM 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • N.A. Masdor Biotechnology Research Centre, MARDI, P. O. Box 12301, 50774 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54987/jemat.v1i1.16

Keywords:

mercury, herbs, enzyme assay, FIMS

Abstract

Herbal products are a major source of mercury contaminant in the diet of humans. Currently, monitoring of mercury is carried out by instrument such as Flow Injection Mercury System which utilizes the cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectroscopic technique. The handling and operation of these instruments are costly, time consuming and need skilled operators. In this work, the use of the papain assay to determine mercury in digested herbal samples after neutralization is demonstrated. About 20% of the samples tested showed positive results for mercury at levels higher than the maximum permissibility limit (MPL) and the results were validated using FIMS. The papain assay is low in cost, rapid and could be carried out in a microplate format. The papain assay can be the preliminary screening assay and only positive samples are sent for instrumental validation. This marriage between enzyme-based assay and instrumental method could increase monitoring frequency and results could be obtained faster

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Published

26.12.2013

How to Cite

Wahab, S., Gunasekaran, B., Shaharuddin, N. A., Johari, W., Halmi, M., Said, N., Shukor, M., & Masdor, N. (2013). A novel method for the determination of mercury in herbal preparation using an inhibitive assay based on the protease papain. Journal of Environmental Microbiology and Toxicology, 1(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.54987/jemat.v1i1.16

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2013)

Section

Articles

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