Antibacterial activities of ethanolic extract of four species of Rutaceae family

Abstract

In this study, the antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract from the leaves of four Rutaceae species, including Acronychia pedunculata, Clausena excavata, Glycosmis pentaphylla and Luvunga scandens, were performed using the agar disk diffusion method for the first time. The ethanolic extracts from the leaves of A. pedunculata and G. pentaphylla were able to resist against all six bacterial strains with zones of inhibition for Bacillus cereus (17.3±2.1 mm, 20.8±1.0 mm) Staphylococcus aureus (8.5±0.5 mm, 17.6±0.3 mm) Escherichia coli (16.7±2.1 mm, 15.3±1.2 mm), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.7±0.6 mm, 14.0±1.7 mm), Salmonella enteritidis (22.3±0.6 mm, 24.6±0.5 mm) and Salmonella typhimurium (9.5±0.9 mm, 8.3±0.6 mm). On the other hand, the ethanolic extract of C. excavata leaf was resistant to B. cereus (12.3±0.6 mm), S. aureus (11.6±0.5 mm), E. coli (11.5±2.1 mm), P. aeruginosa (10.6±0.3 mm) while B. cereus (8.2±0.3 mm), S. aureus (9.3±0.6 mm), E. coli (8.5±0.5 mm) and S. typhimurium (8.3±0.6 mm) were inhibited by the ethanolic extract of L. scandens leaf. This study could provide necessary information for further application of these species in medicine.