GREEN PROPOLIS EXTRACTS IN THE CONTROL OF Enterococcus faecium AND Enterococcus faecalis BIOFILM FORMATION ON ABIOTIC SURFACE
Greem propolis group stands out because have the bioative compounds artepillin C and baccarin. This compound could be an alternative treatment against emergent pathogenic microorganism as the genre Enterococcus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of green propolis extracts at the inhibition of the development and the adhesion capacity of E. faecium and E. faecalis strains potentially pathogenic. Two kinds of green propolis extracts were used in this study: ethanol extract (EEP) and concentrated extract (CEP). They were tested against 5 E. faecium and 5 E. faecalis strains that presented any virulence and/ or antibiotic resistence profile. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) tests revealed that EEP had the best antimicrobial activity, because inhibited the strains in the concentration between 0.6 and 2.5 mg.mL-1, while the CEP inhibited the same strains in the concentrations between 2.5 and 10 mg.mL-1. The evaluation of biofilm´s adhesion ability by crystal violet method was performed in polystyrene surface incubated at 37ºC after 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours. Only two strains showed the capacity of forming biofilms at all the terms analyzed. These strains are different from the others for the presence of some gen resistant to vancomycin (vanA ou vanB). In most cases, the biofilm treatment with CEP in lower concentrations of its MIC conduced to a higher adhesion for both strains. The confocal microscopy tests showed that the ECP treatments at ≤ 2.5 mg.mL-1 concentrations resulted in an increase of dead cells Biovolume when compared to the control of E. faecalis F68 strain. The same conditions demonstrated the EEP effectiveness at the adhesion ability in concentrations lowers to the MIC. These results showed that ethanol green propolis extract could be an alternative at the treatment against infections caused by E. faecium e E. faecalis vancomycin resistant.