Five students from Universitas Brawijaya (UB), Dinda Aprilla Salsabila (FKG), Aisyah Fitri Qurrata ‘Ayun (FKG), Annisa Putri (FKG), Dhiky Dwi Kurniawan (FK), and Fahrunisa Tunjung Malihahsisna (FKG). Muhammad Chair Effendi, drg. SU., Sp.KGA., conducted research related to natural mouthwash made from the Chinese Jatropha as an alternative therapy for COVID-19 virus through the oral cavity.
Compounds in Chinese jatropha are known to have an antiseptic effect that has the same potential as povidone iodine.
“Chinese Jatropha are widely known as iodine plants or betadine plants which contain compounds similar to povidone iodine which can be used as basic ingredients for making natural mouthwash,” said a member of the research, Dinda.
This study has proven through computer simulations that the compound content of the Chinese Jatropha in natural mouthwash has the potential as an alternative therapy for the treatment of COVID-19 through the inhibition of proteins from the virus.
“Hopefully, this research can be developed further and can be a new solution in alternative therapy from the treatment as well as handling COVID-19 cases in Indonesia,” said Dinda.
The process of making Chinese Jatropha mouthwash uses active ingredients from Chinese Jatropha extract which contains secondary metabolites that are potentially effective in killing the COVID-19 virus.
The active substance used is the sap extract of Chinese jatropha, then a mouthwash is formulated with the excipients used include: Na Benzoate (preservative), glycerin (moisturizer), sorbitol (pH stabilizer), peppermint oil (flavour), and aquadest (solvent).
“This mixture is expected to get good results for the use in oral cavity, therefore an evaluation of mouthwash mixture is carried out which includes organoleptic tests, homogeneity tests, viscosity tests, and pH tests, the results of them will be compared with the requirements for mouthwash preparations in the literature.” Added Dinda.
The five students realized new innovations by joining the Exact Research-Student Creativity Program (PKM-RE). (DND/Humas UB/ Trans. Iir).
