Actividad antibacteriana y antioxidante de los extractos de Piper cubeba (Piperaceae).

Abstract

Piper cubeba L. (Piperaceae), commonly known as ‘cubeb’, is native to Indonesia, and also found in many other countriesof the South-East Asia, and in some African countries. This plant has been used as a popular food additive, andin folklore medicine to treat various ailments, particularly bacterial infections. The n-hexane, dichloromethane (DCM)and methanol (MeOH) extracts of the dried berries (fruit) of this plant were assessed for their antioxidant (free radicalscavenging) and antibacterial activities using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and the micro titre basedantimicrobial assay incorporating resazurin as an indicator of cell growth, respectively. While all extracts showed antioxidantactivity in the qualitative assay, the most prominent antioxidant activity was observed with the MeOH extract inthe quantitative assay with a RC50 value of 2.71 x 10-1 mg/mL. The antioxidant potency of the DCM extract was about3 fold less (RC50 = 6.50 x 10-1 mg/mL) than that of the MeOH extract. None of the extracts showed any antibacterialproperty against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, and ampicillin resistant Escherichia coli. While both the n-hexaneand the DCM extracts inhibited the growth of Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, theMeOH extract was active only against B. cereus and P. aeruginosa. The most potent antibacterial activity was displayedby the n-hexane extract against B. cereus with an MIC value of 1.56 mg/mL. All antibacterial activities of the extractswere found to be bacteriostatic rather than bactericidal.