Analysis of prednisone in Indonesian uric acid herbs using high performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

The problem of adulteration of herbal medicines product with active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) has existed for years in Indonesia. According to the government's rules, it is not allowed to add API to traditional herbal medicine. Uric acid herbs are one of the most popular herbal medicine products. Prednisone is one of the corticosteroids that has been reported to be detected in herbal products. The purpose of this study is to identify prednisone in uric acid herbs using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The stationary phase used in this study was C18 Puroshper®STAR RP-18e LiChroCART® column (250-4.6 mm; 5 µm i.d.), while the mobile phase was methanol: water (60: 40 v/v). The mobile phase flow rate was set at 1 ml/min. Prednisone in the sample was detected at wavelength 243 nm using a UV detector. Validation methods in this study consisted of precision, linearity, the limit of detection (LOD), the limit of quantitation (LOQ), and accuracy. The precision is indicated by the relative standard deviation (RSD) value of 0.33% (<2%). The correlation coefficient value (r) of 0.9955 obtained from the prednisone calibration curve shows the method's linearity. The recovery values of 100.11 ± 0.82 % indicates the accuracy of the method that meets the requirements. The LOD and LOQ values were 2.96 and 9.85 µg/ml, respectively. Method validation parameters have been proven that meet the requirements. The HPLC method can be used to analyze prednisone in uric acid herb samples. The application of the method for analysis of eight herbal products taken from the market shows that prednisone was detected in two products.