Nanoemulsion of Turmeric in VCO Inhibit the Progressivity of Lung Fibrosis due to Cigarette Exposure

Pulmonary fibrosis is a form of lung damage caused by chronic inflammation. One of the causes is cigarette smoke exposure, which can damage cilia , epithelial cells, that is able to stimulate oxidative stress as well. The inflammatory response by inflammatory cells triggers release of inflammatory mediators, for example, TNF-alpha. Increased levels of TNF-alpha indicate a high inflammatory process and a high risk of pulmonary fibrosis. Nanoemulsion of turmeric extract in VCO contains curcumin, which can suppress the secretion and expression of TNF-alpha through several pathways. This study is aimed to analyze the inhibitory effect of turmeric extract nanoemulsion in VCO on pulmonary fibrosis in an inflammatory way. In this study, 40 white rats were used and divided into five groups; K0 was negative controls group, K1 was exposed to smoke from two cigarettes/day for 42 days, K2 received 0.3 mL dose of nanoemulsion + cigarette exposure, K3 received 0.6 mL dose of nanoemulsion + cigarette exposure and K4 received dexamethasone (0.2 mg/kgBW) + cigarette exposure. Furthermore, plasma TNF-alpha levels taken from cardiac blood and histopathological preparations (HE, MA) were made from the right lung. One-way ANOVA test was used to analyze plasma TNF-alpha levels, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to analyze fibrosis degree scoring based on Aschroft Modification Scale and the correlation test was analyzed by Spearman test. The results showed that 0.3 mL of turmeric extract nanoemulsion in VCO had the best inhibitory effect on progressivity tissue damage and pulmonary fibrosis.