The antioxidant activity of seaweed salt from Sargassum polycystum in Sprague-Dawley male White rats

Abstract

Seaweed has many health benefits and has been the potential raw material for making low sodium and high potassium healthy salt. Sargassum polycystum is widely used as a low-sodium functional salt, which has a strong antioxidant capacity. However, it's in vivo potential is unknown. This research was a purpose to determine the antioxidant activity of SOD and catalase enzymes in seaweed salt through in vivo test in Sprague-Dawley rats. To achieve this, salt was produced from S. polycystum flour and distilled water at a ratio of 1:10 and heated at 40°C for 10 minutes, using a water bath. The mixture was stirred using 500 mesh nylon cloth and filter paper, then dried with an oven at 60°C for 30 hours. In vivo research method was then adopted using 20 male Sprague-Dawley rats, which were divided into 5 treatment groups. The analysis used was the treatment of commercial and seaweed salt, Sargassum polycystum, and plain water (aquades) in the test animals with 4 replications, which include each treatment group consisting of 4 Sprague-Dawley rats. Data were analyzed using Analysis of variance (ANOVA) from Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. S. polycystum salt had a Sodium (Na) and Potassium (K) ratio of 0.38 and NaCl content of 49.05%. The antioxidant activity of SOD and catalase enzymes ranged between 54.09–73.40 U/mL and 0.67 – 0.79 U/mL, respectively. These values indicate that the application of S. polycystum salt is able to balance the antioxidant activity of SOD and catalase. In addition, seaweed salt has the potential to reduce cell damage due to free radicals.