Comparison of Antifungal Effects of Propolis Extract Apis mellifera carnica and Fluconazole against Candida glabrata in Vitro

Abstract

C. glabrata has emerged as a major cause of adaptive resistance to azoles, echinocandins, and multidrugresistant agents. Therefore, an effort is needed to explore natural materials for antifungal activity, one of these natural ingredients is propolis. Propolis extract has chemical compounds such as flavonoids and phenolic acids which have antifungal activity which can inhibit the growth of the Candida glabrata. In this study, propolis was used from Apis mellifera carnica bees. This study aims to determine the antifungal effect of propolis Apis mellifera carnica against clinical isolates of Candida glabrata compared to fluconazole. This study used an in vitro experimental study conducted using the diffusion method. This study was divided into 5 groups, namely negative control (KN), positive control (KP) using fluconazole and treatment (P) with three variants of propolis Apis mellifera carnica extract concentrations, namely 50%w/v (P1), 75%w/v (P2), and 100%w/v (P3). Data analysis used the Kruskal-Wallis test and continued with the Mann-Whiteney test with significance (p<0.05). The average result of the diameter of the inhibitory zone sequentially starting from the smallest is negative control (KN) of 0 mm, P3 of 7.71 mm, P1 of 8.85 mm, P2 of 9.60 mm and the largest is positive control (KP) of 19.08 mm. The concentration of Apis mellifera carnica propolis extract had the greatest antifungal effect at a concentration of 75%w/v and the least at a concentration of 100%w/v. Based on the research above, it can be concluded that the propolis extract of Apis mellifera carnica has an antifungal effect against Candida glabrata but is not better when compared to fluconazole.