Extract ethanol of Centella asiatica reduce expression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen on alveolar macrophage from rats lung tissue infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Centella asiatica is a medicinal plant that has been used as a traditional treatment for healing inflammatory processes. Previous studies have shown that the extract of Centella asiatica is able to increase the immune response and can inhibit the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vitro. The aims of this study were to determine the effect of ethanol extract of Centella asiatica to reduce the expression of antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on alveolar macrophage cells from rat lung tissue infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Twenty-eight male rats were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37 Rv and divided randomly into four groups. Groups 1, 2, and 3 were treated with the ethanol extract of Centella asiatica at 375 mg/kgBW, 750 mg/kgBW and 1500 mg/kgBW, and fourth group was the control group. Examination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen expression using immunohistochemical methods was performed. Analysis of the data using ANOVA (α=0.05). The results showed that there was a significant reduction of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen expression in alveolar macrophage in the treated group at 750 mg/kgBW and 1500 mg/kgBW. In conclusion, the ethanol extract Centella asiatica contains active ingredients that have the ability to decrease the expression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen on alveolar macrophages from rat lung tissue infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis