In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Piper retrofractum Fruit Extracts against Microbial Pathogens Causing Infections in Human and Animals

Abstract

Long pepper (Piper retrofractum Vahl) is a Thai medicinal herb which has been used as one of the common ingredients in variety of Thai foods. Here, we investigated antimicrobial activities of crude bioactive metabolites extracted from fruits of P. retrofractum against 10 pathogenic organisms (bacteria and yeast) causing opportunistic infections in human or animals including Bacillus subtilis ATCC6633, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC2921, Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Klebsiella pneumonia TISTR1843, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC741, Salmonella typhi (clinical isolate), Vibrio parahaemolyticus (XN98 and 5HP), and Candida albicans ATCC90020. The results of disk diffusion test showed that the extract from methanol solvent exhibited greater antibacterial activity than other solvents with inhibition zones ranging from 0.5 to 8.0 mm, respectively. Subsequently, minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) determined by the colorimetric assay confirmed that methanol extracts showed consistent results with disk diffusion method. In summary, in vitro assays suggest that methanol is the best solvent for extraction of bioactive metabolites from P. retrofractum fruits. This crude extract can inhibit the majority of human and animal pathogens. This opens up a potential use of pepper fruits in prevention of food-contaminating microorganisms.

Green synthesis and characterization of copper nanoparticles using Piper retrofractum Vahl extract as bioreductor and capping agent

“…Our study used Piper retrofractum Vahl fruit extracts for the synthesis of CuNPs. Piper retrofractum Vahl, a member of family Piperaceae , also known as Java chili in Indonesia, has been reported as antioxidant [ 16 ], mosquito larvacide [ 17 , 18 ], anti-pest [ 19 ], antimicrobial [ 20 , 21 ], insecticide [ 22 ], anti-dengue virus [ 23 ], antiobesity [ 24 ], cytotoxic/anticancer [ 25 , 26 , 27 ], antifungal [ 25 ] and antituberculosis [ 28 ]. However, it has never been reported as a natural reagent for the green synthesis of nanoparticles.…”

A REVIEW OF PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL STUDIES OF Piper retrofractum Vahl.

“…Damage to the cell membrane will make it easier for organic acids to penetrate the cytoplasmic membrane and cause changes in membrane stability which eventually leads to ion leakage [26] . Panphut et al, (2020) Based on this study, it is known that the bioactive compound Javanese long pepper which was extracted with methanol had better potential against pathogenic microorganisms [27] .…”

Identification Secondary Metabolites From Callus Piper retrofractum Vahl

“…Methanol, ethyl acetate, and n-hexane extract of P. retrofractum es showed potential antioxidant activity dependent on concentration (Jadid et al, 2017). P. retrofractum bioactive compounds extracted with methanol as a solvent have a better potential for pathogenic microorganisms (Panphut et al, 2020). The results of the study, a group of animal tests giving ethanol extract of P. retrofractum has a high phagocytic constant value indicating activity as an immunostimulant, higher compared to the phytopharmaceutical immunostimulant group.…”