Antibacterial Activity Test of Various Fraction of Lick leaves (Villebrunea rubescens) against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis Bacterial

Abstract

Lick leaves (Villebrunea rubescens) are one of the medicinal plants from the Urticaceae family. In Papua, we called it Daun jilat, which is used empirically by the community to treat contusion or bruises in the Serui area, Yapen Island Regency, Papua, Indonesia. Based on the result of the phytochemical screening, V. rubescens contained Alkaloids, Tannins, Saponins, Quinones, and Flavonoids. In previous research on an extract of Lick leaves, it was found that the antibacterial activities within inhibition zone have value of 8.7 mm (125 μg/mL). This research aims to find out the antibacterial activities of the various fraction of Lick leaves in inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus bacterial and to find out the most effective concentration of the various fraction of Lick leaves. The method used in this research was disc diffusion method and the solution used was ethanol-water, ethyl acetate, and N-hexane with the variable concentration used was 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000ppm. The result showed that Lick leaves fraction of ethanol-water, ethyl acetate, and n-hexane had an inhibition zone against the growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria, while the n-hexane and ethyl acetate had an inhibition zone against the growth of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. However, for the ethyl-acetate, the inhibition zone was categorized as weak. The concentration of Lick leaves which effectively inhibited the growth of bacteria was ethanol-water fraction with an inhibition zone of 7.78 mm against Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria and ethanol-water fraction with an inhibition zone of 3.89 mm against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.