Potential of milk fish waste protein extract as an immune supplement for Covid-19 prevention

Indonesia is currently experiencing a Covid-19 pandemic, which reached 4.06 million cases on September 9, 2021. It infects humans when their immune systems is at a low level. Some references suggest consuming fish to boost immunity. Milkfish (Chanos chanos) contains 19.15% of the protein that is believed to elevate lymphocytes. In the current investigation, milkfish production reaches 170,852,179 tons in Java, Indonesia. As a result, the increase in those fish's production and consumption led to huge waste (byproduct). Therefore, the study aimed to investigate milkfish waste, including heads, tails, spines, and offal, as a protein supplement for Covid-19 prevention. They were collected from Langdungsari Market, Malang, East Java, Indonesia, and selected based on their quality and freshness. The waste was then cleaned and extracted employing 0.1 M of HCL. Afterwards, the extract was mixed with Na-CMC (sodium carboxymethyl cellulose). Furthermore, the test was carried out by inducing milkfish waste protein (MWP) extract to mice (Mus musculus) with three dosages (6.522 mg (T1), 9.730 mg (T2), and 15.332 mg (T3)) and one control. A complete hematology test, such as red blood cells (RBS), white blood cells (WBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (PCV), differential leucocytes, absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), and blood cell indices was assessed to evaluate the immune responses of mice. Data was analyzed employing SPSS to determine the differences among treatments. The results showed that the administration of MPW extracts significantly affected the number of ALC, RBC, WBC, Hb, PCV, and differential leucocytes, particularly T1. Unfortunately, only eosinophils did not give response to the treatments. Regarding those results, it was found that the administration of milkfish MPW extract has the potential to be used as a supplement for boosting immunity.