Formulation and antimicrobial screening of Piper sarmentosum cream against Staphylococcus aureus

Piper sarmentosum, known as ‘kaduk’ has been traditionally used in different parts of the world to cure many diseases and ailments. It contains alkaloids and has been reported to possess many pharmacological properties like anti-cancer, anti-hyperglycaemic, anti-tuberculosis, antioxidant, and antimalarial. This study aimed to evaluate the formulation of P. sarmentosum cream and exploring the antimicrobial properties in different types of cream formulation before in vivo study. The leaves extract of P. sarmentosum was obtained from the cold-soaked methanolic extraction method, evaporated, and dried to produce the powdered extract. Then, it was diluted into four different concentrations, 25% w/v, 50% w/v, 75% w/v, and 100% w/v for Staphylococcus aureus antimicrobial screening. Based on the S. aureus antimicrobial screening, four types of creams were formulated (Cream A: cream base without Piper sarmentosum extract; Cream B: Piper sarmentosum extract (5%) only; Cream C: Piper sarmentosum extract (5%) with parabens preservatives; Cream D: Piper sarmentosum extract (5%) with vitamin E) and evaluated for their physical appearance, pH, stability study, and antimicrobial activity against S. aureus. As a result, 100% w/v concentration of the P. sarmentosum extract showed the highest result in the zone of inhibition (5.50 mm ± 0.03) towards S. aureus and was selected for cream formulation. In evaluating their physical appearance, all formulated creams showed high homogeneity and consistency with no phase separation and pH between 7.2 – 8.0 ± 0.07. On stability study, all creams with three different temperatures of 4°C, 27°C, and 37°C for 30 days show no colour changes, high homogeneity, and consistency with any phase separation. The results of antimicrobial screening for all formulated creams, show that Cream D has the highest zone of inhibition towards S. aureus (5.53 mm ± 0.25), followed by Cream C (4.43 mm ± 0.13). In conclusion, P. sarmentosum cream formulation showed high stability properties and possessed anti-microbial properties suggesting its potentials for wound healing cream.