Prevention of Higher Triglycerides, Malondialdehyde, and Fatty Liver Disease using the Ethanolic Extract of Sea Lettuce (Ulva Lactuca) in Male Wistar Rats (Rattus Norvegicus)

Putu Austin Widyasari Wijaya¹, Desak Made Wihandani² and Luh Putu Ratna Sundari³*

¹Biomedic Science Postgraduate Program, Faculty of Medicine, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia.

²Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia.

³Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia.

Corresponding Author Email: luhputu_ratnafk@unud.ac.id

Fatty liver disease is caused by high-calorie intake and the prevalence is currently increased due to lack of definite treatment. However, antioxidants are used as a preventive measure, and some exist as bioactive compounds in the Ulva lactuca extract used. These compounds include alpha-tocopherol, vitamin C, and polyphenols, which has an anti-hyperlipidemic and antioxidant effect. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the Ulva lactuca extract in preventing higher triglyceride, malondialdehyde (MDA), and fatty liver disease. This experiment was a randomized control with a post-test only group design using 36 male Wistar rats. The animals were given high fat and fructose diet, and divided randomly into 2 groups, those were: control group who were given a placebo; and treatment group were given ethanol extract of Ulva lactuca 200mg / kg-weight for 42 days. Data between groups were analyzed by Independent-t test. The results showed that Ulva lactuca extract can prevent higher triglyceride and MDA levels in treatment group significantly, which is p less than 0.001 and p=0.003 respectively (p less than 0.05). Furthermore, histological examination showed the infiltration of fat vacuoles in control group. In conclusion, Ulva lactuca extract could be an alternative prevention for fatty liver disease due to its ability to prevent higher triglyceride and mda level in male wistar rats.

Antioxidant; Fatty Liver; Sea lettuce; Triglyceride; Ulva Lactuca

[ HTML Full Text]