The Antibacterial or Antifungal Effects of Eurycoma longifolia Root Extract
M Tzar, Y Hamidah, S Hartini, M Marianayati, A Nazrun
Keywords
antibacterial, antifungal, eurycoma longifolia, macrobroth, tongkat ali
Citation
M Tzar, Y Hamidah, S Hartini, M Marianayati, A Nazrun. The Antibacterial or Antifungal Effects of Eurycoma longifolia Root Extract. The Internet Journal of Herbal and Plant Medicine. 2010 Volume 2 Number 1.
Abstract
Background:
Eurycoma longifolia Jack (E. long) has anticancer and antimalarial properties. Even though there are various claims of the ability of E. long to treat infections, there was only one study reported on its antibacterial effects, while there was no study on its antifungal effects. Therefore, we have conducted a study on the antibacterial and antifungal effects of using the current and most relevant clinical strains of bacteria and fungi. Methods: A macrobroth dilution method was used in this study. Three types of fungi (Candida albicans, Candida glabrata and Candida krusei) were tested against an aqueous extract of E. long root at concentrations of 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25 and 0.625 mg/mL. Six types of bacteria (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecium, extended-spectrum beta lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, group-1 beta lactamase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa, multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii and Salmonella typhi) were tested against an aqueous extract of E. long root at concentrations of 50, 25, 12.5, 6.25 dan 3.125 mg/mL. The minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined by looking at the clarity of the final solutions. Results: There was no reduction in turbidity in all test tubes containing various concentrations of E. long root extract. Conclusion:
E. long root extract did not show any antibacterial or antifungal effect at concentrations of equal to or less than 50 mg/mL and 10 mg/mL, respectively.
Introduction
A study has shown that
Materials and Methods
Powdered-form of aqueous
Fungal Inoculum Preparation and Inoculation
The method was adapted from M27-A3 document by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI)12. The fungi used included
For inoculation, 900 µL of the working solution was pipetted into six glass test tubes. 100 µl of
Bacterial Inoculum Preparation and Inoculation
The method was adapted from M07-A8 document by the CLSI13. Six bacterial strains used were methicillin-resistant
For inoculation step, 400 µl of the working solution were pipetted into six glass test tubes. 400 µl of
Incubation and Result Interpretation
All test tubes were incubated in air at 35oC for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the turbidity in each test tube was compared visually with the positive control tube, against a background of three parallel, horizontal black lines. The degree of turbidity was recorded as (-) clear, (+) turbid but the black lines were still visible or (++) too turbid to see the black lines. Minimum inhibitory concentration
Results
All test tubes that contained mixtures of
All test tubes that contained mixtures of
Figure 1
Discussion
The search for new antibiotics is badly needed to overcome problems posed by emerging resistant bacteria. For the past few decades, new antibiotic discoveries have become rare events. This has been attributed to strict approval and low returns on investment by pharmaceutical companies14. For the past 20 years, the number of new antibiotics in the market has plummeted to half15,16. At the same time, the incidence of antibiotic resistance organisms is increasing, such as MRSA17 and
Many methods and resources can be used to discover new antibiotics. It is very important for researchers to follow certain standardized guidelines in antimicrobial susceptibility testing to ensure the quality and reproducibility of an experiment. We had chosen to follow internationally accepted standards set by CLSI12,13. Use of non-standardized methods will make it difficult to compare results among different experiments.
One of the reasons for the slow progress in new antibiotic discovery is the lack of study on natural products19.
Our study was the first on antifungal effects of
There were several limitations of our study. First, was the use of crude extract of
Conclusions
Acknowledgement
Authors would like to thank the Mycology Unit staff at UKM Medical Centre for laboratory assistance. This study was funded by UKM Faculty of Medicine Fundamental Grant FF-226-2008.