RESEARCH ARTICLE Antibacterial activities of ethanolic extract of four species of Rutaceae family Hong Thien Van 1 * , Dang Gia Man Nguyen 1 , Nguyen Tuong An Huynh 2 & Van Son Le 3 1 Institute of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, No. 12 Nguyen Van Bao, Ward 4, Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2 Office of Postgraduate Management, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, 12 Nguyen Van Bao Street, Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 3 Binh Chau-Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve, Bung Rieng Ward, Xuyen Moc District, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Vietnam *Email: vanhongthien@iuh.edu.vn ARTIC LE HISTORY Received: 20 March 2020 Accepted: 09 July 2020 Published: 04 August 2020 KEYWORDS Acronychia pedunculata Clausena excavata Glycosmis pentaphylla Luvunga scandens Antbacterial actvites Ethanolic extract ABSTRACT In this study, the antbacterial actvity 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 difusion method for the frst tme. The ethanolic extracts from the leaves of A. pedunculata and G. pentaphylla were able to resist against all six bacterial strains with zones of inhibiton 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 enteritdis (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 informaton for further applicaton of these species in medicine. Introducton Medicinal plants are rich source of antimicrobial agents. However, the potential of vascular plants as a source for a new medicine is still largely unexplored. Only a small percentage have been recorded phytochemically among the estimated about 500000 species (1) in which the medicinal aspects and antimicrobial agents of Rutaceae plants were investigated by some previous studies (2, 3). The Rutaceae consists of 156 genera and over 1800 species, which are widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions, particularly in Southeast Asia (4). Members of Rutaceae are important for their natural resources providing many useful products, such as food, medicines, spices and essential oil etc (5, 6). Many biologically-active compounds, including saponins, steroids, cardiac glycosides, alkaloids and flavonoids were isolated from Rutaceae species (7). Furthermore, the antimicrobial activities of their extracts from different solvents have been reported in previous studies (8– 10). Vietnam has been home to a diversity of Rutaceae species with over 100 species recorded (11, 12). Furthermore, Binh Chau-Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve is the only remaining sandy forest along the coastline of Vietnam for species of the Dipterocarpaceae family, which is located in Xuyen Moc District, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Vietnam. In the report of the Management Board of Binh Chau-Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve, this area has 796 plant species belonging to 142 genera. To date, there are many studies about this area which research and evaluate the diversity of plant species or record the new species in this area for the flora of Vietnam (11, 12). However, their bioactivity is still unknown. The present study envisages to study the antibacterial activities of ethanolic extracts from the leaves of four species, including Acronychia pedunculata, Clausena excavata, © Van et al (2020). This is an open-access artcle distributed under the terms of the Creatve Commons Atributon License, which permits unrestricted use, distributon and reproducton in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (htps://creatvecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). To cite this artcle: Van HT, Nguyen DGM, Huynh NTA, Le VS. Antbacterial actvites of ethanolic extract of four species of Rutaceae family. Plant Science Today. 2020;7(3):463–468. htps://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2020.7.3.784 Plant Science Today, published by Horizon e-Publishing Group, is covered by Scopus, Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, Clarivate Analytcs etc. Full list at htp://www.plantsciencetoday.online PLANT SCIENCE TODAY, 2020 Vol 7(3): 463–468 https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2020.7.3.784 ISSN 2348-1900 (online) HORIZON e-Publishing Group