The development of natural resources medicines, especially animal is still limited compared to living natural resources. Indonesia has deer with various types of variants from all parts of the archipelago. East Kalimantan deer was chosen as the basic ingredients of animals which were studied as one of the sources of Indonesian natural medicinal ingredients which are said to be empirically, and previous studies claimed to have many medicinal properties. The therapeutic efficacy is possible because of the presence of minerals and amino acids such as aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, and arginine at 32.5-37.2% of the total acid, as well as the content of polypeptides, proteins, polysaccharides, fatty acids, and phospholipids. Besides, some previous data shows that deer antler has a bioactive component, and has the potential to provide several pharmacological effects. The research of deer antler resources can become initiators of drug preformulation that produce greater pharmacological effects.
Deer antlers have been claimed to have many medical benefits. In China, deer antlers are claimed to strengthen virility, bones, maintain blood flow, and increase vitality and restore male and female sexual function. Although the scientific evidence behind this claim is still unproven, deer antlers show potential positive effects on modern diseases such as those related to aging, infection, and immune dysfunction. However, the mechanism of action and the bioactive compounds responsible for the deer antler’s animal resources is largely unclear.
The active chemical compounds of deer antlers are thought to have differences in the chemical composition they contain. For example, the content of protein, lipids, ash, calcium, and collagen from the tip of the horn to other parts. But which part of the deer antler is suitable for preventing and curing diseases that have not yet been clarified. Besides, the process of extracting animal or plant sources also plays a major role in producing different products.
The process of extracting deer antlers also varies, among others, it can be tried from plant extraction because it has been widely used, namely maceration or reflux techniques. Therefore in this study, we extracted and evaluated the physical characteristics of deer antlers from East Kalimantan as a preformulation study to prepare for further drug formulation processes.
The results showed that deer antler extract successfully prepared by the optimization of the extraction method and physicochemical characteristics can be determined. Deer antler extract studied physicochemical properties of 2 different extracts, namely 70% ethanol extract and water extract which produced different characteristics in the melting point parameters, solubility, crystallinity and protein content. Ethanol extract and water deer antler extract were proven to contain both active terpenoids and steroids as well as containing high amounts of protein with confirmed molecular weights of 17 to 43 kDa. In terms of crystallization, ethanol extracts and water have been shown to have crystal lattices with different shapes and regularities.
It can be concluded, initial exploration of the potential of deer antler extract is recommended to be continued in the process of formulation and characterization of the drug in vitro further. Overall data from the results of this study will be useful for further drug formulations, especially for the availability of oral tablets and capsules as antioxidant agents or as other drugs that have claimed therapeutic properties.
Author: Dewi Melani Hariyadi
Detail information on our research can be accessed at http://impactfactor.org/PDF/IJDDT/9/IJDDT,Vol9,Issue2,Article7.pdf
Hariyadi Dewi Melani, Setyawan Dwi, Suciati, Widyowati Retno, Chang Hsin-I, Suryawan IPGN, Utama Agung Widi. 2019. Extraction and Preformulation Study of Deer Antler Velvet Extract: Physical Characterization of Aqueous and Ethanol Extract. International Journal of Drug Delivery Technology, 9(2) 151-159.
