Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of papain enzyme administration in pH alteration, VEGF phosphorylation, and its impact on collagen degradation using a rat model of abnormal scarring

Herman YL Wihastyoko^1,2 , Setyawati Soeharto³, Edi Widjajanto⁴, Kusworini Handono⁴, Bambang Pardjianto^2,5

¹Doctoral Program, Faculty of Medicine, Brawijaya University, Malang 65145; ²Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstruction Consultant, Saiful Anwar General Hospital, Malang 65111; ³Pharmacology Department; ⁴Clinical Pathology Departement, Faculty of Medicine, Brawijaya University, Malang 65145; ⁵Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, State Islamic University of Malang, Malang 65144, Indonesia.

For correspondence:- Herman Wihastyoko Email: wihastyoko@ub.ac.id Tel:+62341551611

Accepted: 23 April 2021 Published: 31 May 2021

Citation: Wihastyoko HY, Soeharto S, Widjajanto E, Handono K, Pardjianto B. Effect of papain enzyme administration in pH alteration, VEGF phosphorylation, and its impact on collagen degradation using a rat model of abnormal scarring. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(5):1017-1022 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i5.19

© 2021 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the effect of enzyme papain administration, after its injection into abnormal scars of Rattus norvegicus rats, on pH alteration (ΔpH) of scar tissue, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression levels, and determine their impact on collagen degradation.

Methods: This study used Rattus norvegicus as an experimental animal. The pH measurement of the scar tissue was carried out before papain injection at 12th weeks while abnormal scar was established after papain injection at 15th weeks. expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was examined by Western blot technique, while hydroxyproline levels were measured using QuickZyme Total Collagen Assay.

Results: Changes in ΔpH, VEGF expression, and hydroxyproline levels in the treatment group were significant (p < 0.05) compared to control. Path analysis showed a direct relationship between the parameters (p < 0.01), except for the correlation between VEGF and hydroxyproline value (p = 0.23).

Conclusion: Papain enzyme administration increased ΔpH value of abnormal scar tissue. A high dose of papain also causes an increase of collagen degradation process, as a response to angiogenesis deflation.

Keywords: Angiogenesis, Collagen density, Hydroxyproline, Papain enzyme, VEGF