How does the Phadebas test actually work?
The active ingredient of the Phadebas tablet are starch polymer chains, homogeneously interlinked to form spheres of uniform and pre-defined size, so called Bio-Degradable Starch Microspheres, or DSMs. DSMs are insoluble in water. A water soluble blue dye is chemically attached to the microspheres and, as long as the dye is bound to the DSM, it remains insoluble in water. In the presence of Amylase, the DSMs are degraded by the enzyme, at a speed increasing with the solution’s Amylase activity. The characteristics of the liberated blue dye molecule is key for Phadebas action: • In quantitative assays, the free, water soluble fraction of the dye is measured in a spectrophotometer after a pre-determined time of enzymatic degradation. The concentration of dye is proportional to the amylase activity of the original sample, which can be read from the supplied standard curve. • In the qualitative forensic press test, it’s the diffusion of liberated dye molecules that indicates the presence o
