DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2021.v09i09.004

Pages: 248-255

Antibiotics are applied to directly kill pathogenic microbes as a causal agent of infection. The excessive use of antibiotics as therapeutical agents on pathogen infections could trigger microbial resistance inside human body and even cause new diseases. As an alternative to reduce the use of antibiotics, therapy with natural ingredients contained in medicinal plants can help body by stimulating immune cells to eliminate invading pathogens. These medicinal plants are utilized as immunostimulant. As a tropical country, Indonesia has a variety of plants that can be used as medicinal plants, which one of them is the ornamental plant Pucuk Merah (Syzygium myrtifolium (Roxb.) Walp.). In this study, we tested the effect of Pucuk Merah (Syzygium myrtifolium (Roxb.) Walp.) leaves extract on lymphocytes count and spleen index of Balb/C mice (Mus musculus L.) as test animals. Pucuk Merah leaves extract was obtained by maceration method using 96% ethanol as solvent. Phytochemical compounds were analyzed using qualitative biochemical test and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrophotometry (GC-MS). Three doses used in the administration of the extract are 0.127, 0.510 and 0.765 mg/g of body weight. The extract was administered orally using a cannula. Lymphocytes count of treated mice were mainly based on blood smear analysis. Spleen of tested animal were weighed to determine its organ index. Our results showed that Pucuk merah leaves extract contained flavonoid, steroid, and tannin as detected by biochemical assays. Phytochemical quantitative test using GC-MS instrument detected 15 compounds with 1,2,3-Benzenetriol (37,80 %) and caryophyllene (27,49 %) as dominant compounds. Lymphocyte count of mice was tended to be decreased on the treatment of low dose (0.510 mg/g of body weight or less) of Pucuk Merah extract, but high dose (0.765 mg/g of body weight) was observed to increase mice lymphocyte count. Spleen index of Pucuk Merah extract-treated mice was not correlated with its ......