Antibacterial activity of ivory snail (Babylonia areolata) extractions against Aeromonas hydrophila and Streptococcus agalactiae.

Abstract

This study is aimed to screen the presence of antibacterial activity of ivory snail (Babylonia areolata) against specific pathogens which are gram-negative bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila and gram-positive bacteria, Streptococcus agalactiae. The crude extract of B. areolata was tested for inhibition of A. hydrophilla and S. agalactiae growth which tends to be a serious treat towards Malaysia aquaculture industry. Four different extraction solvents were used; ethanol, distilled water, hexane and methanol to extract the homogeneous body of B. areolata and the antibacterial activity were carried out using the agar well diffusion method. The antibacterial activity was measured accordingly based on the inhibition zone around the well. The present study revealed that B. areolata showed antibacterial activities against the pathogenic microbial forms. The finding showed the values of triplicate readings for the diameter of inhibition zone (mm) for pure extraction of homogeneous body of B. areolata using distilled water, ethanol, methanol and hexane against A. hydrophila and S. agalactiae on both TSA are 0.53±0.06, 0.57±0.06, 0.70±1.36E-16, 0.57±0.06 and 0.63±0.06, 0.60±0.00, 0.70±1.36E-16, 0.60±0.00, respectively. There was statistically significant effect of type of extraction solvent on diameter (inhibition zone at the p<0.05) in which at least one pair of means differ significantly. The methanol extracts of B. arealata possessed the highest activity against A. hydrophila and S. agalactiae compare to distilled water, ethanol and hexane. This finding showed that B. areolata contained antibacterial properties and medical value which reacted against isolated bacteria. The results obtained can be used as a guideline for further study related to the full structural component of antibacterial compound that derived from marine molluscs and other further research in this field in the future.