The Inhibition of Betel Leaf Infusion (Piper betle Linn) Against the Growth of Candida albicans

Abstract

Abstract: One of plants commonly used by the community for herbal medicine is betel (Piper betle Linn). The reason is that betel contains antiseptic substances that can kill germs. Betel nutritious overcome infection caused by bacteria and fungi. One of fungi that infects humans is Candida albicans. This study was conducted to find out the effectiveness of some concentration of inhibitory power of green leaf infusion to the growth of Candida albicans. The experiment was conducted between May and August 2017 at laboratory Centre of Poltekkes Kemenkes in Medan, Indonesia. Different concentrations were made with 7 types of boiling water of green betel leaves using sizes of 0.6, 1.0, 1.4, 1.8, 2.2, 2.6 and 3 g. Furthermore, various concentrations of green betel infuse were installed by using the diffusion disc method. One way anova was employed for analysing normal distributed data and post-hoc test was also used to determine the difference of inhibitory power for each concentration. Results show that infusion of betel leaf from various concentrations proved in inhibiting the growth of Candida albicans with p = 0.00 (<0.05). The mean of inhibitory zone values of each concentration were 12.10 (0.6), 14.10 (1.0), 15.80 (1.4), 17.40 (1.8), 20.40 (2.2), 22.50 (2.6) and 24.50 mm (3.0 g). While, the drag zone on positive control with ketoconazole were at 36.20 mm. This study also explain that the more number of leaves used in the manufacture of infuse, the more width of the inhibitory zone to Candida albicans growth. The results on post-hoc test show that there is no different inhibitory effect of each green betel infusion concentration to the growth of Candida albicans with p = 0.00 (<0.05).