Antibiofilm Effect of Two Propolis Samples from Turkey

Abstract

Biofilms are structured communities of bacteria, which are adhered to a surface and embedded in a self- produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substances. Since biofilms are resistant to antimicrobial agents, they are at the basis of health problems. Propolis has attracted increased interest due to its antimicrobial activity against pathogenic microorganisms. We investigated the antibiofilm potencies of Turkish ethanol extract propolis (EEP) against some bacteria (Listeria monocytogenes ATCC7644, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC29213, S. aureus ATCC 33862, MRSA-20 (clinical isolate), Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC55241, Micrococcus luteus NRRL-B1013, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC19433) known to form biofilms. Firstly, the antibacterial activity of EEP from Manisa-Salihli (P4) and Izmir-Foça (P10) collected in 2013 was evaluated according to Agar Well Diffusion method. Secondly, we tested with a microplate biofilms assay both the effect of antibiofilm and inhibition of biofilms of EEP. The EEP samples exhibited good antibiofilm activity against bacteria. The maximum antibiofilm activity percentage of P4 ranged from 85% for L. monocytogenes to 68% for S. aureus ATCC 29213. Also, the activity percentage of P10 ranged from 79% for L. monocytogenes to 48% for MRSA20. In addition, we showed that EEP samples were very effective on tested bacteria biofilms (up to 50% biofilms inhibition percentage).

Keywords

• antibiofilm, biofilm reduction, propolis, Turkish