Isolation and identification of dexamethasone sodium phosphate degrading Pseudomonas alcaligenes

Glucocorticosteroids such as dexamethasone have polluted hospital wastewater, urban sewage, and river water in varying degrees. However, dexamethasone degradation by bioremediation technology is less understood. This study aims to isolate bacteria that could degrade dexamethasone and to identify their degradation characteristics. Hospital wastewater contaminated by dexamethasone was collected. After culturing in inorganic salt medium and in carbon deficient medium containing dexamethasone sodium phosphate, a bacterial strain with dexamethasone sodium phosphate as the sole carbon and energy source was enriched and isolated from the contaminated wastewater. The strain was identified as Pseudomonas alcaligenes by morphology, Gram staining, biochemical test, and 16S rDNA sequencing. Isolated bacteria were domesticated. Then its degradation characteristic was determined by high‐performance liquid chromatography method. The degradation rate of P. alcaligenes on dexamethasone sodium phosphate was 50.86%. Of the degraded dexamethasone sodium phosphate, 75.23% of dexamethasone sodium phosphate was degraded to dexamethasone and 23.63% was degraded to other metabolites. In conclusion, the isolated P. alcaligenes in this study would provide experimental evidence for further research on the bioremediation technology to treat dexamethasone sodium phosphate and dexamethasone polluted water and further for the elimination of side effects of dexamethasone.