Extract of Water Clover (Marsilea crenata C.Presl) Leaves Reduced Expression of MMP-1 in Skin of Ovariectomized Sprague Dawley Rat

Science has found a way to prevent skin aging in menopause woman. One of the therapies is estrogen (17-estradiol) replacement therapy. Skin aging in menopause woman is related with reduced ER- and ER- expression and negatively correlated with MMP-1 expression. Syntethic estrogen has several negative effects like breast and ovarian cancer. Phytoestrogen has gain attention due fewer side effects and cheaper. Water clover (Marsilea crenata C. Presl) is easily found in Indonesia which has phytoestrogen properties (isoflavon). Based on our review there was no study about effect of extract of water clover (Marsilea crenata C. Presl) leaves on MMP-1 expression in skin of ovariectomized Sprague Dawley rat. This research revealed the effect of extract of water clover (Marsilea crenata C. Presl) leaves on MMP-1 expression in skin of ovariectomized Sprague Dawley rat. Thirty-six female rats (Sprague Dawley) with 10-12 weeks old and 250-300 gr weight were randomly chosen and adapted for 7 days. Rats were ovariectomized and healed for 7 days then divided into 2 groups. The plasebo group (control) was rats without intervention and treated grup (treatment) was rats with daily oral 50 mg/kg weight extract of water clove for 28 days. After 48 hours from the last exposure, the rats were sacrificed and MMP1 expression in skin was determined by immunohistochemistry. Independent T-test analysis found significant difference in percentage of fibroblast that expressed MMP1 (p =0.000). The control group expressed MMP1 for 35.099 % and the treatment group expressed MMP1 for 17.463 %. There was decreasing of MMP1 expression for 17.636 % between control and treatment group. This study showed that extract of water clover (Marsilea crenata C. Presl) leaves reduced expression of MMP1 in fibroblast of skin ovariectomized Sprague Dawley rat significantly.