Traditional drink of blackcincau(Mesona palustrisBL)-basedwedang uwuhas immunomodulator on alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of traditional drink of blackcincau-basedwedang uwuh(WUB) on alloxan-induced diabetic rats.Design/methodology/approachWUB consists of dried herbs such as blackcincauleaves (Mesona palustrisBL), red ginger (Zingiber officinaleRosc), cloves (Syzgium aromaticum), sappan wood (Caesalpinia sappanLin) and soursop leaves (Annona muricata). In this study, the rats were divided into five groups: normal control, diabetic control and three groups of WUB (WUB 13.5 mL/kg and WUB 27 mL/kg) orwedang uwuhcommercial (WUC) treated diabetic groups. WUB or WUC was administered by gavage for three days after rats were confirmed diabetic induced by alloxan; these injections were continued for 28 days. At the end of the experiment, the spleen of rats was analyzed using flow cytometry. Data were analyzed by ANOVA followed by Tukey test using Minitab version 16.0.FindingsThis study showed that WUB significantly inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (interferon-Y [IFN-ɣ] and tumor necrosis factor-α[TNF-a]) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin 10 [IL-10] and transforming growth factor-β [TGF-ß]), and achieved a balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines that were not significantly different from normal controls. WUB 27 was able to regulate the production of relative average cytokines IFN-ɣ (7.6 ± 3.5;p= 0.010), TNF-a(8.7 ± 2.4;p= 0.018), IL-10 (6.3 ± 2.4;p= 0.001) and TGF-ß (7.4 ± 2.1;p= 0.004) that was significantly different from diabetic control. This study’s results validate that the use of WUB can result in immunomodulatory activity in diabetic rats.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on the immunomodulatory effect of WUB which is developed based on WUC; WUB has been used by Indonesian people as a functional beverage which acts as an immune booster and body warmer.