The ability of earthworm Lumbricus rubellus extract in slowing down the activation of NFkB and TNF-α in lipopolysaccharide-induced Rattus norvegicus

Abstract

Background: Earthworm (L. rubellus) contains many compounds such as Lumbricin I, G-90 glycoprotein, and polyphenols as antimicrobial, antioxidant, and hepatoprotective toward bacterial infections. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) has been identified as a mediator for necrosis tumor inside animal serum treated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). High concentrated LPS can cause tissue damage and death. The increasing number of Nuclear Factor Kappa Beta (NFkB) activation has been responded by macrophage to produce cytokines pro-inflammation TNF-α as an indicator of inflammation.Methods: The research was conducted in the Animal Laboratory Pharmacology Unit, Biomolecular Laboratorium, Faculty of Medicine Udayana University and the Pathology Clinic Sanglah General Hospital with a post-test only control group design. Thirty-two experimental rats were made as samples and divided into four groups, which are negative control, positive control, treatment 1, and treatment 2. Treatment was performed for 14 days. The containment of NFkB and TNF-α was measured on the 16th day using quantitative technique sandwich enzyme immunoassay (ELISA).Results: The results of the Shapiro-Wilk test and Levene’s test showed that the data were normally distributed and homogeneous, with p > 0.05. As the data were normally distributed, the one way ANOVA was used to analyze the data, followed by the Least Significant Difference (LSD) test. There was a significant difference between the average amount of TNFα found in each treatment group p = 0.001 (< 0.05). There were also significant differences between the average amount of NFkB found in each treatment group p = 0.001 (< 0.05). Advanced test using LSD shows more significant differences by p < 0.05. Conclusion: It can be concluded that earthworm extract (L.rubellus) raises the amount of NFkB and TNF-α in male experimental rats injected with LPS.