The Potency of Tomato Paste (Lycopersicon esculentum) on the Expression of Interleukin-2 in Hepar of Mice Exposed to Borax

The food industry in Indonesia still uses chemicals in food products. Borax is a chemical substance that has long been abused by the food industry to reach high profits at low production costs. This toxic material will cause damage and necrosis of liver cells. This research aimed to investigate the protective effect of tomato paste on liver histopathological changes exposed to sodium tetraborat or borax. This study used thirty-six healthy male mice two months old with a body weight of 20 grams that were divided into six treatment groups for 17 days and initial three days treatment was as follows. Group P0 has been given sterile aqua dest for 0.1 ml/20 g, group P1 has been given borax for 5.6 mg/20 g, group P2 has been given tomato paste for 230 mg/20 g, and groups P3, P4, and P5 were prevented by tomato paste for 110 mg/20 g, 230 mg/20 g, and 350 mg/20 g daily. For the next 14 days, groups P3, P4, and P5 have been exposed to borax every day as much as 5.6 mg/ 20 g while groups P0, P1, and P2 had the same treatment as before. On the 18th day, the mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, followed by liver sample collection. This research showed that lycopene in tomato paste likely protected the liver from borax because the IL-2 expression was decreased. It can be concluded that P5 group offers the best protection against borax-exposed liver. It is necessary to carry out further research regarding the protection of tomato paste on borax exposure in other organs.