The Preventive Effect of Ethanolic Extract of Rome Beauty Apple Peel (Malus sylvestrys Mill) towards Protease Activity and Jejunal Histopathology of Rat (Rattus norvegicus) Exposed to Lead Acetate

Abstract

The exposure of lead to body can be through inhalation, digestion and adsorption. Lead intoxication can lead to jejuna damages and increase protease activity due to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Apple peel extract contains flavonoids that can scavenge ROS. This research aims to investigate the effect of ethanolic extract of Rome Beauty apple peel to protease activity and jejuna histological feature of rat exposed to lead acetate. This research used 20 rats, that divided into 5 treatment groups, which were negative control group (healthy rat), positive control group (exposed to lead acetate 10 mg/rat/day for 14 days), and preventive therapy group (administrated the apple peels extract with doses of 28 mg/200 g BW, 56 mg/200g BW, 112mg/200g BW for 21 days and also lead acetate with 10mg/rat/day for 14 days on day 15th until 28th). Jejunal histological features was stained using HE stain which then observed using a microscope. Protease activity was measured by using spectrophotometric method. The data of protease activity was statistically analyzed using ANOVA, followed by Tukey test (α = 5%). The results showed that the administration of ethanolic extract of Rome Beauty apple peels at best dose of 112 mg/200 g BW can reduce protease activity and improve jejuna histopathology. The conclusion of this study was that apple peels extract of Rome Beauty can be used to prevent the increase of protease activity and the damage of rat jejuna exposed to lead acetate.