In vitro ultra violet (UV) protection of curculigo latifolia extract as a sunscreen candidate

Curculigo latifolia is a local plant from the Amaryllidaceae tribe, which the community in empirical medicine has widely used. This study aims to determine the bioactivity of C. latifolia extract as a sunscreen carried out in vitro to obtain scientific data to be developed as a raw sunscreen material. The dried simplicia powder from the roots, stems, and leaves of C. latifolia was extracted by graded maceration using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol (70% v/v) to obtain an extract. Each extract from plant parts was observed for the sunscreen profile in absorbing UVA (320-400 nm) and UVB (290-320 nm) rays with a UV spectrophotometer. Each extract was tested for UV protection with several test parameters, i.e., the percentage of erythema, pigmentation transmission, and sun protective factor (SPF). The results of sunscreen profiles in absorbing UVB and UVA showed that hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol extracts in roots, stems, and leaves could absorb UVB, and some of the extracts absorb UVA. Leaf hexane extract (LH) gave the highest UVB and UVA absorption of 1.192 and 1.804, respectively, compared to other extracts. The extract showed the ability to protect against erythema and pigmentation with the categories of fast tanning (root ethanol, stem ethanol, stem hexane, and root hexane extract), total block (root, stem, and leaf ethyl acetate extract), and regular suntan (leaf hexane extract). The results of SPF parameters showed that leaf hexane extract (LH), root ethyl acetate (REA), stem ethyl acetate (SEA), and leaf ethyl acetate (LEA) at a concentration of 250 ppm gave an ultra-protective effect with an SPF value of 23.65, 16.5, 22.5 and 23.03 respectively. The test results show that the extract of C. latifolia has the potential as a sunscreen with ultra-protection against UVA and UVB rays.