The Potency of Ethanolic Extracts of Betel Leaves as An Antibiofilm against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the bacteria that can produce biofilms. Biofilm inhibits the action of antibiotics causing antibiotic resistance. The betel leaf is known as traditional medicine for various antimicrobial therapies. Herein, we report the potency of ethanol extract from betel leaves against MRSA 2983. The betel leaves were extracted with the maceration method using 96% ethanol. Antibiotic streptomycin was used as a positive control. The MIC determination used the serial dilution method. Both inhibitions of biofilm formation and biofilm degradation used the microtiter method. The phytochemicals compounds in ethanol extracts were analyzed with GC-MS. The species identification confirmed that the samples used were Piper betle L. and Piper crocatum Ruiz and Pav. GC-MS results indicated the presence of phenolic compounds, terpenes, alkaloids, flavonoids, and glycosides. Both ethanols extract from betel, and red betel have antibacterial activity against MRSA 2983 with the MIC 6.25% (betel) and 100% (red betel). The ethanol extract of betel inhibited 40% biofilm formation at 100% and 50% concentrations, whereas ethanol extract of red betel inhibited 20% biofilm formation at 6.25%. Both ethanol extracts were able to degrade 50% of a biofilm at the concentration of 1.56%, 50%, 100% for betel and 6.25%, 12.5%, 25%, 50% for red betel. These findings suggest that the ethanol extracts of betel and red betel leaves have potency as an antibiofilm against MRSA 2983.