Context: Ruta genus (Rutaceae) is abundantly used and described in the most ancient systematic records of medical practice of the Mediterranean world. In Tunisia, this genus is represented by two medicinal and aromatic shrubs: Ruta chalepensis L. and Ruta montana L.
Objective: This study investigates the antioxidant and acetylcholinesterase inhibition (AChE) activities before and after in vitro gastrointestinal metabolism of leaf decoction of R. chalepensis and R. montana.
Materials and methods: We study, in vitro, the effect of the gastrointestinal juices gastric (1.75 mL) or pancreatic (2.5 mL) juices, on the biological activity by the measurement of the antioxidant activity and AChE inhibition during 4 h of decoction extract obtained from the leaves of the two species of Ruta.
Results: The results showed that the ability to inhibit the AChE enzyme was similar; being the greatest inhibitory activity exhibited by the ethanol extract (IC50 = 12 ± 1.1 μg/mL) obtained from leaves of R. chalepensis.
Conclusion: In conclusion, we showed that there was no appreciable degradation and that the activity was kept constant after gastric and pancreatic juice digestion.
Keywords: Rutaceae; gastrointestinal digestion; phenolic compounds; radical scavenging DPPH; reducing power assay.