Assessment of Anti-Protease Property of Nutmeg in Causing Delayed Disintegration of Platelet Rich Fibrin – an in vitro Study

Background: Platelet-rich fibrin is a second generation platelet concentrate enhances tissue healing and is in predominant use as a barrier membrane in periodontal regeneration. However, a normal PRF membrane has rapid degradability (1-2 weeks). Myristica fragrans (nutmeg) has been found to have antiprotease property. It was hypothesized if this property helps in inhibiting degradation of PRF. Aim: To assess whether nutmeg has any effect in inhibitingde-gradability of PRF membrane and to compare the degradability of PRF at different concentrations (200mg, 100mg, 50mg) of ethanolic and crude extracts of nutmeg. Materials and Methodology: PRF was procured from 30 ml blood from 5 different donors were cut to equal sizes into 35 pieces. They were measured at baseline and dropped in 7 sets of ependorphs containing PBS, PBS containing 200 mg, 100mg and 50 mg crude extract of nutmeg, PBS containing 200 mg, 100mg and 50 mg ethanolic extract of nutmeg. After 1 week the PRF were retrieved and measured. The percentage of remaining PRF was calculated and data analysed. Result: It was found that there was a difference in percentages of remaining PRF between all the groups when compared to the control group, out of which, crude extract of nutmeg 200 mg group alone had a significantly lesser % of remaining PRF than the control. All ethanolic extract groups had a significantly greater % of remaining PRF when compared to that of the control. Conclusion: Nutmeg is effective in inhibiting the degradation of PRF membrane.