The activity of the leaf essential oil of Philippine Piper betel against dermatophytes and Candida albicans

Superficial mycotic infections are treatable conditions and they rank as the third most common illness globally, next to headaches and tooth decays. Piper betel L. is an aromatic plant with heart-shaped leaves that play a role in traditional medicine. This study harnessed the antidermatophytic potential of the essential oil extracted from the leaves of Piper betel, PBLO, Philippine variety. Using serial twofold dilutions of PBLO, including selected PBLO constituents, to challenge Candida albicans ATCC 10231 and clinical isolates of filamentous dermatophytes, results indicate that the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration, MIC, of the essential oil extract was 625 ug/ml for C. albicans and MICs of <156 ug/ml for Microsporum canis, Microsporum gypseum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, and Trichophyton tonsurans. Data on known PBLO constituents suggest that eugenol plays a major role in PBLO’s antidermatophytic activity, followed by chavicol. Chavicol and eugenol exhibited the same MIC, 625 ug/ml, against C. albicans ATCC 10231. A eugenol MIC of <156 ug/ml was observed against M. canis, T. mentagrophytes, T. rubrum, and T. tonsurans; and 312.5 ug/ml against M. gypseum. Chavicol MICs of 312.5 ug/ml and 625 ug/ml were observed against Trichophyton spp. and Microsporum spp., respectively. Results of the study suggest the potential of P. betel essential oil as an alternative to conventional antifungals for the treatment of dermatophytosis. With the presence of many active constituents in PBLO essential oil, antifungal resistance is unlikely to happen, as multiple mutations will be required to overcome the mechanism/s of action of each of these constituents.