Antibiofilm Activity of Eugenol Against Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans ATCC 43718 (serotype B)

Eugenol is the major constituent 70% to 90% in the aromatic oil extract from Syzygium aromaticum (cloves) and Cinnamomum zeylanicuma, which is widely used as a flavouring for meats, stews, cakes, and teas. This plays a major role in the microbial activity against oral bacteria, specifically Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans ATCC 43718 (serotype B), which causes periodontitis in humans. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate eugenol for its antibiofilm activity against Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans ATCC 43718 (serotype B). An inhibition growth assay was used with the microdilution method, which often utilized a 96-microplate with an anaerobic technique. Absorbance was also measured by a microplate reader on λ of 595 nm, with the optical density (OD) value used to determine the inhibition percentage. To evaluate biofilm bacterial growth after the treatment, SEM analysis was adopted. The results showed that eugenol had an inhibitory effect on A. actinomycetemcomitans at 0.125% v/v, according to the MBIC50 value. Eugenol showed significant antibiofilm activity (P < 0.05) against A. Actinomycetemcomitans. This proved that the biofilm bacterial growth was effectively inhibited by the chemical compound. In this case, the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) matrix degraded after the treatment of the cell biofilm. Based on these results, eugenol was observed to have a great potential in periodontitis, as an inhibitor against the biofilm growth of A. actinomycetemcomitans ATCC 43718 (serotype B).