The Chelating Effect of Mangifera Foetida Water extract on Serum Thalassemic Patients

Thalassemia is still a major problem in Indonesia because of its high morbidity and mortality rate. The well-known chelating agent, deferoxamine, which is regularly administered, is expensive and has many side effects. Mangiferin, extracted from the bark of Mangifera indica Linn. has been proven in vitro, as a chelating agent to iron. The aim of this study was to prove that the water extract of Mangifera foetida Lour. leaves has a chelating effect to serum ferritin from thalassemic patients. This study was conducted at the Department of Medicat Pharmacy FMUI, Department of Child Health FMUI, and Department of Pharmacy, FMIPA UI from October2009 to June 2010. Forty two samples of serum from 7 patients that have been diluted to 200 uM, were divided into 6 groups as follows: negative control group; the treated group of extract, 0.375; 0.75; 1.125 mg, respectively; mangiferin 100 ug; deferoxamine 100 ug. The chelating activity was measured by substraction between the absorbance values of serum containing this treatment and each treatment only, divided by serum absorbance, using spectrophotometer at 280 nm. One way Anova was used for statistical analysis. The water extract of Mangifera foetida leaves at the dose 1.125 mg showed chelating effect to ferritin serum that has no significant difference to mangiferin 100 ug (p=0.735). This result showed differently compared to in vitro study because in serum, ferritin contains apo-protein that binds iron tightly, thus another specific method should be created for detecting their binding.