UTILIZATION OF NEMBA STEM AS AN ANTITUBERCULOSIS COMPARED WITH RIFAMPICIN AND ETAMBUTOL

Indonesia ranks third in the number of tuberculosis, after India and China. Treatment of tuberculosis takes a long time, and the lack of discipline in taking medication has caused the Mycobacterium tuberculosis to be resistant to many synthetic drugs that have been used so far. In contrast, the discovery of new synthetic drugs is very slow. Traditionally, neem bark (Azadirachta indica JUSS.) has been used to treat coughing up blood and phlegm, and the results of previous studies show that ethanol extract of neem bark in vitro can inhibit the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This study was conducted to determine the toxicity of neem bark extract, formulation of neem bark ethanol extract into tablet preparations, and the potential of this tablet preparation as anti-tuberculosis in vivo in animals. Neem bark extract was made by percolation using an ethanol extractor. Toxicity test was carried out in the form of an acute toxicity test on mice to calculate the LD50 value and histopathological observations of the liver, lungs, and intestines. The tablets were made by wet granulation. The potential test of tablet preparations as anti-tuberculosis was performed in vivo on animals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv using a nebulizer. The results showed LD 50 = 11.85 ± 0.571, including mild toxic. The ethanolic extract of neem bark can be formulated into tablets using a 6% gelatin binder, Manihot starch and primojel as a binder, and a mixture of starch and lactose as a filler. Neem bark extract tablets can cure tuberculosis of experimental animals that have been infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37RV, which is given a dose of 3 times a day two tablets (50 mg/tablet) for six weeks seen tuberculosis bacteria from +3 to negative, and a dose of 3 times a day once a day. Tablet looks from +3 to +1.