Background: Tuberculous spondylitis or spinal tuberculosis, which is also known as Pott's disease of the spine is a disease that occurs throughout the world. This disease affects the spine caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB). MMP-9 is a proteolytic enzyme that is thought to play a role in the progressive degradation of extracellular matrix in physiological and pathophysiological processes involving remodeling of spinal tissue. This study wanted to examine the role of doxycycline as an MMP-9 inhibitor in a rabbit model of tuberculous spondylitis infection. Methods: This type of research is an experimental study using a randomized controlled design method with a One Group Posttest Only design. We conducted this research from March ? June 2020 at the Animal Hospital of the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB). The population of this study was adult New Zealand rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) weighing 1.8-2 kg with 40 rabbits divided into 12 groups. Results: In this study, there was a significant difference between the delta values between the inoculation duration groups, both in the treatment group without doxycycline, doxycycline 1 mg/kgBW, and doxycycline 5 mg/kgBW. Regarding the effect of doxycycline administration, only Group D (decrease) and Group H (increase) showed a significant effect of doxycycline administration on MMP-9 levels in experimental animals with TB spondylitis. Conclusion: MMP-9 will still increase even though doxycycline intervention has been given considering that the occurrence of a chronic process in which inflammatory factors will continue to increase even though antibiotic therapy has been given to suppress the number of these inflammatory factors.

Tuberculosis

Doxycycline

MMP-9

Spondylitis