Dry Powder Inhaler from Patikan Kebo Extract being Considered as Potent as Corticosteroid
The most outstanding bachelor student of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta argued his idea about Patikan Kebo to overcome asthma disease. The Patikan Kebo, according to what he said, is proven potent against the disease and it can be used to eradicate the disease by means of therapy. Erda—his popular nickname—elaborated his idea below. This idea is also used for his competition on Mawapres Nasional 2016 (the competition for all Indonesian most outstanding students) held by Ministry for Research, Technology, and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti).
According to WHO, in the last 10 years Indonesia has increased the asthma prevalence from 4.2 to 5.4 percent. Asthma has lowered the productivity of Indonesian people, as the condition causes people suffering the disease cannot go to work or school. This disease also creates high burden for health budget of Indonesia. Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease involving inflammation of lower respiratory tract. Chronic inflammation causes airway hyper-responsiveness which resulted in recurrent episodic symptoms. Asthma is characterized by common symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Long-term therapy is required to control this disease from recurrence. Treatment of asthma is basically divided into two types, a reliever and controller. One example of a controller is a corticosteroid inhaler, which price is still less affordable in the community. The problem to control asthma in some low-and middle-income countries, including Indonesia is the available asthma therapy still less affordable for people with low income. Concerning about asthma prevalence, it is important to develop an affordable therapy for asthma with low side effect. One alternative way is to utilize herbs that are found in nature to be processed into asthma medication.
Indonesia, a country rich in herbal plants, is potential to develop various herbal therapies against asthma. One of them is a plant called patikan kebo (Euphorbia hirta) which is widespread in almost all regions of Indonesia. Preclinical studies in rats with asthma reported that patikan kebo can be used as effective as the use of corticosteroids. Besides, patikan kebo does not give the side effect in the long-term use. Based on previous research, long-term use of corticosteroid in the treatment of asthma causes many side effects, such as glaucoma, cataracts, gastritis, and osteoporosis. Therefore, herbal therapies are currently being favored by the people. The ethanol extract of patikan kebo can work directly, selectively, and effectively in achieving lower respiratory tract to inhibit mast cell degranulation and inhibit the formation of cytokines IL-5 (interleukin-5) which plays an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. From some phytochemical analysis of patikan kebo, scientists found four main compounds that have important role in overcoming asthma. There are quercitrin, sterol, tanin, and triterpenoid. The whole of those compounds contained in patikan kebo with a much higher proportion than other herbal plants.
During this time, people process patikan kebo into drinks or powdered herbal medicine for the treatment of asthma. Actually, it is still less efficient, because the active substance content of patikan kebo is not directly delivered to the lungs so that the efficacy is reduced. Here the author proposes a Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI) formulation of patikan kebo extract as asthma controller therapy. By using DPI, pharmacological compounds of patikan kebo extract directly go into the respiratory tract without passing through other organs such as the stomach and intestines, so that the drug can act fast on the target and the side effects will be smaller. DPI designed in various types depending on the formulation and dosage form is proved capable combined with plant extracts Trollis chinensis in some previous studies. DPI-making process of the Trollis chinensis extract in 2013 has been proven effective through micronization with lactose. Based on this reason, the author proposes the idea of the potential of patikan kebo as DPI-based asthma therapy. Further research to develop patikan kebo as innovative therapy of asthma needs to be done, because it can improve the resilience of our nation in the aspects of health by providing more affordable asthma therapy while also enhancing the competitiveness of our nation among nations all over the world, especially in the development of health technology.
If you would like to see the video where Erda arguing his idea, you may check the video below.