A preliminary study on the effect of etlingera elatior (jack) extract on uric acid concentration in white male rats / Marti Ayu Latifah Zakaria

Nowadays, the use of traditional medicine is increasing rapidly. The belief that the herbs' components can treat or prevent diseases has encouraged the new generation to trust on the beneficial effects of the active ingredients contained within nature's packages. However, scientific evidence on the therapeutic effects of the plants was very scarce. Therefore, researches were carried out to evaluate the effects of the potential plants that would be beneficial in order to confirm the claimed traditional plants have desired pharmacological effects. The methanol-water (50:50) mixture extract of Etlingera elatior were used for the experiment. The effects of hydroalcoholic extracts of the leaves of E. elatior on the serum uric acid level were investigated using the white male Sprangue Dawley rats pre-treated with the uricase inhibitor, potassium oxonate, as an animal model of hyperuricemia. Allopurinol was use as a reference drug to compare the effects with this respective extract. When the extracts were intraperitoneally administered at dose of 25, 50, 100 and 150 mg/kg, the extracts does not significantly reduce the serum uric acid level in rat, respectively. On the other hand, allopurinol showed to reduce the serum uric acid level when compared with E. e/atior extract. The hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves of E. elatior showed no significant reduction in serum uric acid level in white male Sprangue Dawley rats.