Antimicrobial activity of Piper aduncum leaf extracts against the dental plaque bacteria 
Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguinis

Chaiana FroÃ©s MagalhÃ£es; Ezequias Pessoa de Siqueira; Elaine Alves de Oliveira; Carlos Leomar Zani; Rodrigo Loreto Peres; KÃªnia ValÃ©ria dos Santos; Anderson AssunÃ§Ã£o Andrade

doi:10.5897/JMPR2015.5956

Journal of
Medicinal Plants Research

Abbreviation: J. Med. Plants Res.
Language: English
ISSN: 1996-0875
DOI: 10.5897/JMPR
Start Year: 2007
Published Articles: 3835

Full Length Research Paper

Antimicrobial activity of Piper aduncum leaf extracts against the dental plaque bacteria Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguinis

Chaiana FroÃ©s MagalhÃ£es

Chaiana FroÃ©s MagalhÃ£es
LaboratÃ³rio de Pesquisa em Microbiologia, Faculdade de CiÃªncias da SaÃºde, Universidade Vale do Rio Doce, Governador Valadares, MG, Brazil.
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Ezequias Pessoa de Siqueira

Ezequias Pessoa de Siqueira
LaboratÃ³rio de QuÃmica de Produtos Naturais, Centro de Pesquisas RenÃ© Rachou, Fiocruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. 3Instituto Federal Baiano, Teixeira de Freitas, BA, Brazil.
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Elaine Alves de Oliveira

Elaine Alves de Oliveira
LaboratÃ³rio de Pesquisa em Microbiologia, Faculdade de CiÃªncias da SaÃºde, Universidade Vale do Rio Doce, Governador Valadares, MG, Brazil.
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Carlos Leomar Zani

Carlos Leomar Zani
LaboratÃ³rio de QuÃmica de Produtos Naturais, Centro de Pesquisas RenÃ© Rachou, Fiocruz, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. 3Instituto Federal Baiano, Teixeira de Freitas, BA, Brazil.
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Rodrigo Loreto Peres

Rodrigo Loreto Peres
LaboratÃ³rio de Pesquisa em Microbiologia, Faculdade de CiÃªncias da SaÃºde, Universidade Vale do Rio Doce, Governador Valadares, MG, Brazil.
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KÃªnia ValÃ©ria dos Santos

KÃªnia ValÃ©ria dos Santos
LaboratÃ³rio de Pesquisa em Microbiologia, Faculdade de CiÃªncias da SaÃºde, Universidade Vale do Rio Doce, Governador Valadares, MG, Brazil.
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Anderson AssunÃ§Ã£o Andrade

Anderson AssunÃ§Ã£o Andrade
LaboratÃ³rio de Pesquisa em Microbiologia, Faculdade de CiÃªncias da SaÃºde, Universidade Vale do Rio Doce, Governador Valadares, MG, Brazil.
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Article Number - 00A407559001
Vol.10(23), pp. 331-337 , June 2016
https://doi.org/10.5897/JMPR2015.5956

Received: 22 September 2015
Accepted: 11 March 2016
Published: 17 June 2016

Abstract

Piper aduncum has been widely used for medicinal purposes, and it has also been known to possess antimicrobial activity. Dental plaque is a complex ecosystem that harbors benign and pathogenic bacteria. It is desirable that compounds targeted to treat dental plaque-related diseases should be selective in their action, preserving the benign bacteria and inactivating the pathogenic ones. Thus, the study evaluated the antibacterial activity of P. aduncum leaf extracts against cariogenic (Streptococcus mutans) and health-associated (Streptococcus sanguinis) bacterium. For this, ethanol extracts were obtained by decoction, maceration, Soxhlet or turbo-extraction. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extracts was determined using the broth microdilution method. The influence of extracts on virulence traits of S. mutans was evaluated by the adherence assay to glass surface and by the glycolytic pH drop assay. S. mutans was more susceptible to crude extracts of P. aduncum than S. sanguinis and the highest activity was obtained with the maceration extract (MAC). Thus, MAC was further fractionated by gel permeation chromatography and the most active fraction against S. mutans (MIC of 0.08 mg/mL) had a MIC of 0.62 mg/mL for S. sanguinis. In addition, this fraction inhibited sucrose-dependent adherence of S. mutans and also reduced the level of acid production by this bacterium. The preferential activity of P. aduncum extracts towards S. mutans compared with S. sanguinis, in addition to their ability to inhibit sucrose-dependent adherence and reduce the level of acid production by S. mutans, suggest that this plant may have a potential to prevent dental caries.