Phytochemical analysis and actibacterial activity of Caulerpa lentillifera J. Agardh / Sitti Norsarina Amirullah

The increase of antibiotic resistant bacteria has urged the search of new antibacterial and antioxidant agents from medicinal plants. This project was carried out to study the antibacterial activity of Caulerpa lentillifera. In this study, the entire plants were extracted by using maceration technique. Two solvents used in the extraction were methanol and ethanol. All solvent extracts were then used in standard phytochemical screening tests and antibacterial assays. The test showed the presence of phenol, tannins, terpenoid, alkaloid, protein, coumarins, and quinones in C. lentillifera. The phytochemicals analysis revealed that more phytochemical compound can be extracted from dried sample compared to fresh sample. As for the solvent used, both are potent in extracting with no much different as the polarity is almost same. The antibacterial activity was evaluated qualitatively by using disc diffusion method against Staphylococcus aureus (ATTC 4330), Bacillus subtilis (ATTC 6633), Escherichia coli (ATCC 11229) and Salmonella enterica (ATCC 14028). All sample extracts were did not exhibit any antibacterial activity. The phytochemical screening showed the potential of C. lentillifera having antibacterial properties however the disc diffusion assay against selected bacteria strains showed no antibacterial activity. This can be due to the concentration of the compound did not reach the level of it to exhibit antibacterial properties. Further study should be done to evaluate the antibacterial activity of C. lentillifera against different types of bacteria strains and collections of the sample directly from the source are highly recommended. Besides, the uses of different extraction solvent to extract the phytochemical compound is recommended.