Extracted Passiflora edulis Pulp to Reduce Inflammation in LPS-activated Macrophage Cell Line: RAW 264.7

NSAID is known as the gold standard in treating inflammation, despite its reported side effects. Natural products are being explored to find an alternative to treat inflammation. This preliminary study can provide new insight into using P. edulis pulp to treat inflammation in the oral mucosa. Plants from which P. edulis pulp is extracted are economical and easily found in Indonesia. For this reason, this study was designed to analyze the anti-inflammatory performances of P. edulis pulp extract (PEPE) in a pro-inflammatory murine macrophage cell line - RAW 264.7. First, a cell viability test was performed to evaluate the safest range of PEPE concentration, using MTS Cell Proliferation Assay Kit. Next, the RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line was activated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mimic the inflammatory situation in this study. The level of Interleukin, Tumor Necrosis Factor and Prostaglandin were then examined to get the data of inflammatory mediator cytokines. Data obtained from the experiments indicated a significant difference (p<0.05) between negative control, intervention (12,5 and 75 µg/mL) groups, and positive control groups. The inhibition capacity of PEPE 75 µg/mL over positive control was almost similar for both Interleukin and Tumor Necrosis Factor (more than 50%) and around 40% for PGE-2. The histological properties of the four groups showed a meaningful reduction in macrophage level in the groups treated with P. edulis pulp extracts. This study concluded that Passiflora edulis inhibits inflammation by decreasing Interleukin, Tumor Necrosis Factor, and Prostaglandin levels. In addition, a higher concentration of Passiflora edulis enhanced the potential to inhibit inflammation activities.