Methanol extract of Piper retrofractum Vahl: Potentially mediates mast cell stabilization

Allergy is immune reactions against foreign substances (allergens), which triggers mast cell degranulation. Piper retrofractum Vahl is abundantly found in Indonesia and presents high pharmaceutical value. However, no research has been reported its biological effect as an anti-allergy. This research aims to evaluate the biopotential activity of Methanol Extract of Piper retrofractum Vahl (MEPR) in decreasing mast cell degranulation. This research was performed using random complete design with different treatments of MEPR (50, 100, and 200 μg/mL). While, aminophylline coronet crown® 100 μg/mL was used as positive control. Parameters measured are the percentage of mast cell degranulation and cell viability. Our result showed that 100 μg/mL of MEPR decreases effectively the mast cell degranulation (40,96%), which is significantly different compared to non-treated cells (91,39%). Moreover, it displayed slightly different percentage of mast cell degranulation compared to those treated with aminophylline coronet crown® (40,97%). Whereas, mast cells treated with 200 μg/mL of MEPR showed the best result, which possess the lowest percentage of mast cell degranulation 32,83%. In addition, the percentage of cell viability from treatments with 100 and 200 μg/mL of MEPR were 94,10% and 75%, respectively. Taken together, these results suggests that MEPR might potentially mediate mast cell stabilization.