Vol 11, Issue 9, 2018 Online - 2455-3891 Print - 0974-2441 THE EFFECT OF SEA CUCUMBER (HOLOTHURIA SCABRA) EXTRACT AS HEPATOPROTECTIVE: HISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY WIDY SUSANTI ABDULKADIR*, ROBERT TUNGADI Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Sport and Health, State University of Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia. Email: widisusanti553@yahoo.co.id Received: 06 June 2018, Revised and Accepted: 03 July 2018 ABSTRACT Objective: Sea cucumber Holothuria scabra is one of the marine animals that can be consumed as food and also efficacious as a drug. One of the benefits of sea cucumber has high cell regeneration ability. This study aims to see the profile of hepatoprotective histology of sea cucumber extract on mice that have been given paracetamol toxic dose. Methods: This experiment was conducted using experimental animal grouped of mice which were divided into six groups: Group I: sea cucumber extract 1%, Group II: 1000 mg/kg body weight (BW) or 25 mg/25 g BW, Group III: 750 mg/kg BW or 18.75 mg/25 g BW, Group IV: 500 mg/kg BW or 12.5 mg/25 g BW, Group V: positive control (curcuma tablet 2.5 mg/25 g BW), and Group VI: paracetamol group (62,5 mg/25 g BW). The histopathology test was performed to see the improvement of liver necrosis of mice. Results: The results of histopathological study showed that all groups of mice livers experienced necrosis (cell damage) and abnormalities. In the group of sea cucumber extract having dose 500 mg/kg BW, liver cells experienced degeneration of fat and hemorrhage as in the group of curcuma tablet, but in Group VI (paracetamol group), liver of mice experienced apoptosis (cell death). In the histopathology test, results can also be seen that in Group IV at doses of 500 mg/kg BW, the liver experienced slightly less severity than all other groups. Conclusion: The sea cucumber at doses of 500 mg/kg BW can improve the hepatic damage on mice induced by paracetamol. Keywords: Sea cucumber, Hepatoprotective effect, Histopathology test, Mice, Liver. INTRODUCTION Liver is an intermediary organ between the digestive system and blood. One of the important functions of the liver is to protect the body against the occurrence of accumulation of harmful substances such as drugs that inserted into the body from outside. Many of drugs are fat soluble and not easily excreted through urine so that the enzyme system in the liver microsomes will do biotransformation in such way to form a metabolite which is more soluble in water and can be excreted through the urine [1]. Regarding this phenomenon, it is not surprising that the liver has possibilities to be damaged by the drugs. In general, hepatitis due to drugs does not cause permanent damage, but sometimes it can persist and has fatal effect. Hepatotoxic is a chemical causing some toxic effects on liver cells [2]. With the excessive doses (toxic doses) or long-term retreating, this compound can cause an acute or chronic liver damage [3]. The management of liver disease is still a challenge to modern medicine as there is no effective drug available that stimulates liver function, offer protection to the liver from damage or help to regenerate hepatic cells. The only drugs available are corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents. However, these suffer with several adverse effects. It is, therefore, necessary to search for alternative drugs for the treatment of liver diseases to replace currently used drugs of doubtful efficacy and safety [4]. In the present day scenario, nearly half of the agents used in liver diseases are either natural products or derivatives of natural products due to their ability to act on various biological targets, so there remains a great interest in the search for natural products from plants, terrestrial, and marine animals and microorganisms as potential drug chemical leads for the treatment of a liver disease. Among the wide range of natural sources, herbal and marine source play a key role, where 65% of patients in US and Europe depend on herbal preparations for the treatment of liver diseases [5]. Utilization of natural materials as a traditional medicine began to be developed, and testing has also been done to obtain more satisfactory results in terms of treatment and the side effects. Sea cucumber Holothuria scabra is marine biota which is widely used as a traditional medicine. Sea cucumber contains antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor, and anticoagulant ingredients. Zancan and Mourao’s, 2004, described that in addition to wound healing, sea cucumber extract also contained anticoagulant and antithrombotic compounds [6]. The research that has been done by Abdulkadir, 2010, illustrated that at a concentration of 35%, sea cucumber suspension had hepatoprotective effect and improved liver tissue [7]. Meanwhile, Nurhidayati, 2010, stated that sand cucumber was capable of preventing damage to hepatocytes induced by carbon tetrachloride and the highest protective effect was obtained at a dose of 50 mg/200 g body weight (BW) of the experimental animal. However, there is no real correlation between increasing doses of the sand cucumber with its hepatoprotective effect against carbon tetrachloride. In addition, Novrita and Nurhidayati, 2016, described that H. scabra can improve liver fibrosis in mice induced by carbon tetrachloride. Regarding this, Abdulkadir and Tungadi, 2017, found that sea cucumber H. scabra extract at a concentration of 1% can improve the severity level of hepatic damage in mice by reducing the parameter of serum glutamate pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) and serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [8]. Therefore, in this research was continued by describing histopathological study of sea cucumber extract as hepatoprotective effect. MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials Sea cucumber H. scabra was derived from Wajo village, Tilamuta, Boalemo, Gorontalo, Indonesia. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4. 0/) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2018.v11i9.27747 Research Article