ABSTRACT
Trigonella foenum-graceum L. (fenugreek) is a phytoestrogen, a nonsteroidal organic chemical compound from plants which has similar mechanism of action to sex hormone estradiol-17β. This study aims to assess the effectivity of fenugreek seeds extract on collagen type I alpha 1 (COL1A1) and collagen type III alpha 1 (COL3A1) which are both decreased in aging skin and become worsen after menopause. This in vitro experimental study used old human dermal fibroblast from leftover tissue of blepharoplasty on a postmenopausal woman (old HDF). As a control of the fenugreek's ability to trigger collagen production, we used fibroblast from preputium (young HDF). Subsequent to fibroblast isolation and culture, toxicity test was conducted on both old and young HDF by measuring cell viability on fenugreek extract with the concentration of 5 mg/mL to 1.2 µg/mL which will be tested on both HDF to examine COL1A1 and COL3A1 using ELISA, compared to no treatment and 5 nM estradiol. Old HDF showed a 4 times slower proliferation compared to young HDF (p<0.05). Toxicity test revealed fenugreek concentration of 0.5 – 2 µg/mL was non-toxic to both old and young HDF. The most significant fenugreek concentration to increase COL1A1 and COL3A1 secretion was 2 µg/mL (p<0.05).