Jonnel L. de la Rosa, Johnraja-Zaid M. Ladja, Mark Paul T. Lomod (February 2000)
Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus – Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PSHS WVC), Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to determine the feasibility of dermal ointment using ginger (Zingiber officionale) and betel leaf (Piper betle) essential oils as the main ingredients. It also aimed to determine the effectiveness of the ointment produced against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Proteus vulgaris. Furthermore, it aimed to determine the most effective treatment concentrations in terms of the zones of inhibition they caused upon the test bacteria, and whether their effectiveness showed a significant difference among each other. It was hypothesized that there is no significant difference in the effectiveness of the three ointment treatment concentrations, namely: 70% Ginger-0% Betel -30$ Petroleum Jelly, 35% Ginger-35% Betel-30% Petroleum Jelly, and 0% Ginger-70% Betel-30% Petroleum Jelly in terms of the zones of inhibition they caused upon the test bacteria. The independent variables of this study were the different concentrations of ginger and betel leaf oils, while the dependent variables were the zones of inhibition of the treatments upon the three test bacteria. The positive and negative test controls were Dermalin, a commercial ointment, and ether, the organic solvent used to extract the essential oils from the crude extracts, respectively. The study was performed in the Science Research Laboratory at the Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus. Four replicates were prepared for greater accuracy in the analysis of data. The One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), set at 0.05 level of significance, was employed as the inferential statistical tool. The Scheffe test, also set at 0.05 level of significance, was used as the post hoc multiple comparison test.
This study revealed that ginger root and betel leaf essential oils, when used as the main ingredients in the production of dermal ointment, was feasible. It was noted in the case of Staphylococcus aureus, where the Ginger-Betel treatment had the highest diameter zone of inhibition, that the two ointment treatments’ effectiveness increased as both were combined rather than each working independently. In the two other bacteria, Dermalin still topped. Nevertheless, tests showed that the antibacterial effect of the three ointment treatments did not vary significantly with each other, or with that of the positive control, showing that the four treatments can be substituted for each other without affecting their observed degree of effectiveness.