A Review on Acacia nilotica Linn. and It’s Ethnobotany, Phytochemical and Pharmacological Profile

A.K. Meena¹, Brijendra Singh²*, Uttam Niranjan², A.K. Yadav², A.K. Nagaria², Kiran, A. Gaurav² Vertika Gautam² and R.Singh²

¹National Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Research, Patiala – 147001, Punjab, (India).

²School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shobhit University, Meerut, UP, (India).

ABSTRACT:

Acacia nilotica (Linn.) Willd. Ex Del., is a medicinal tree, belonging to the Leguminosae family and sub-family Mimosaceae, a moderate sized, spiny, evergreen tree found throughout India, known to be rich in phenolics, consisting of condensed tannin and phlobatannin, gallic acid, (+) catechin, (-) epigallocatechin-7-gallate, and has been used for treatment of viral (colds, bronchitis), bacterial (diarrhoea), amoeboid (dysentery), fungal, bleeding piles and leucoderma diseases. The presented review summarizes the information concerning the botany, ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, biological activity and toxicity of the Acacia nilotica Linn.

KEYWORDS: Acacia nilotica (Linn.), medicinal tree, ethnopharmacology , toxicity .

INTRODUCTION:

Occurrence, botanical description and ethnopharmacology:

Acacia nilotica (Linn.) Willd. ex. Del. belonging to the Leguminosae family and sub-family Mimosaceae consists of dried mature stem bark having moderate sized, spiny, evergreen tree found throughout India. Acacia is one of about 135 thorny African Acacia species. Variation is considerable with nine subspecies presently recognized, three occurring in the Indian subcontinent and six throughout Africa¹.The common name of this tree is Babula tree, Indian gum arabic tree. The species is naturally widespread in the drier areas of Africa, from Senegal to Egypt and down to South Africa, and in Asia from Arabia eastwards to India, Burma and Sri Lanka. It has also been cultivated elsewhere, including Australia, Cape Verde islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Nepal, Vietnam, and the West Indies. It is indigenous to the plains of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in India. Acacia nilotica occurs from sea level to over 2000 m. It withstands extremes of temperature (-1 to 50°C), but is frost tender when young. Annual rainfall varies from 250 - 1500 mm. Trees are generally deciduous during the dry season, though riverine species can be almost evergreen².

It is a moderate-sized, almost evergreen tree with a short trunk, and a spreading crown. The bark is dark brown to almost black, longitudinally fissured or deeply cracked. Leaves are 2-pinnate and the main rachis has glands. Stipular spines are variable. Leaflets are sub sessile and glabrous. Flowers golden-yellow, fragrant, crowded in long-stalked globose heads, forming auxiliary clusters of 2-5 heads. Pods are stalked, flat, compressed 7.5-15.0 cm in length and contracted between the circular seeds^3-5. The stem bark of Acacia nilotica Linn. for the treatment of tonsillitis⁶. In traditional practice the plant is used for the treatment of tuberculosis, pneumonia, gonorrhea and small pox⁷. Ethnobotanical study reported the plant to be most frequently used for the treatment of

sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)⁸. The antimicrobial activity of the plant extract showed that it is active against S. aures, E. coli and gonococcus⁷. The methanolic extract of the plant showed significant inhibition of gram- positive and gram-negative bacteria⁸, whereas, the ethanolic extract of the plant displayed activity against gram-positive bacteria only⁹. Apart from its antibacterial activity, the plant possesses antifungal activity, and molluscicidal activity against schistosomiasis transmitting snails Bulinus truncatus and Biomphalaria pfeifferi and cercarcidal and miracicidal activity against Schistosoma mansoni^10,11. Also, the methanol extracts of the bark and pods of Acacia nilotica and aqueous extracts of pods of A. nilotica inhibited HIV-1 Protase replicate activity¹². A nilotica has also been reported to possess antiplasmodial activity in vitro against Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 (chloroquine sensitive) and Ddz (chloroquine resistant and pyrimethamine sensitive) with an IC50 value of less than 5µg/ml. Bioassay guided fractionation of Acacia nilotica revealed that the ethylene extract possessed the highest activity (IC50=1.5µg/ml)¹³. A. nilotica extract had an inhibitory effect on carrageenan induced paw edema and yeast- induced pyrexia in rats and produced a significant increase in the hot plate reaction time in mice. Flavonoids, polysaccharides and organic acids may be mainly responsible for its 60 pharmacological activities¹⁴. Also, a steroid 3β-acetoxy-17β-hydroxy-androst-5-ene isolated from aerial parts of A. nilotica (L.) showed dose-dependent anti-inflammatory activity against TPA-induced mouse ear edema¹⁵.

Phytochemistry:

Acacia nilotica Linn. have been reported to contain alkaloids, flavonoids, gum, fatty acids and tannins. It consists principally of Arabin, a compound of Arabic acid with calcium, varying amounts of the magnesium and potassium salts of the same acid being present. It is believed, also, that small amounts of other salts of these bases occur. (Arabic acid can be obtained by precipitating with alcohol from a solution of Acacia acidulated with hydrochloric acid.) The gum also contains 12 to 17 per cent of moisture and a trace of sugar, and yields 2.7 to 4 per cent of ash, consisting almost entirely of calcium, magnesium and potassium carbonates^16-20. It contains gallic acid, m-digallic acid, (+)-catechin, chlorogenic acid, gallolyated flavan-3,4-diol and robidandiol (7,3',4'5',-tetrahydroxyflavan-3,4-diol)²¹. It also contains 29% oleic, 44.5% linoleic acid).²² The seeds of A. nilotica contained coronaric acid (cis-9, 10-epoxyoctadec-cis-12-enoic^23-25. The alkaloids found in Acacias include dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 5-methoxy dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) and N-methyltryptamine (NMT)²⁶. Gum contains galactose, l-arbinose, l-rhamnose and 4-aldobiouronic acids, arabinobioses²⁷. Bark contains several polyphenols. Bark from Egypt have higher tannin content (27%)than that from India, It has been reported that various parts of the plant are rich in tannins (ellagic acid, gallic acid, tannic acid), stearic acid, vitamin-C (ascorbic acid), carotene, crude protein, crude fiber, and selenium^28-34. Bark consists of octaconsanol,betulin ,β-amyrin and β-sitosterol³⁵. Mainly flavonoids are Apigenin-6,8-bis-C-β-D-glucopyranoside (vicenin)³⁶. (+)-Catechin-5,7-digallate, (+)-Catechin-3-,5-digallate, (+)-Catechin-4-,5-digallate³⁷, Melacacidin³⁸, Rutin (quercetin 3-O-rutinoside)^39-41 12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene⁴².

Fig.- Chemical structure of some phytochemical constituents of Acacia nilotica Linn.

Bioactivity:

Acacia nilotica Linn. has been found to possess significant Antimicrobial Activity, Antioxidant, antidiarrhoeal, Anticancer and Antimutagenic Properties, Anthelmintic activity, Antiplatelet Aggregatory activity and vasoconstrictor.

Antibacterial Activity:

The methanol leaf extracts of Acacia nilotica showed significant activity against E. coli, S. aureus and X. a. pv. malvacearum around 15 mm. The highest antibacterial activity of 20 mm in B. subtilis and least activity recorded in E. coli measured 14 mm. Bark extract of Acacia nilotica Linn. exhibit highest activity against B. subtilis and S. aureus (15 mm) and lowest in P. fluorescens⁴³.

Antifungal activity:

Acacia nilotica bark and leaf extract showed antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus (12 mm) followed by leaf extract of Zizphus mauritian (11 mm)⁴³.

The Antiplatelet Aggregatory Activity:

The agonists, AA, PAF, ADP and collagen induced platelet aggregation in a dose-dependent manner in human PRP. Pretreatment of platelets with A. nilotica for 1 min blocked the platelet aggregation mediated by AA (0.75 raM), ADP (4.3 IxM), collagen (638 nM) and PAF (800 nM) in a dose-dependent manner .However, the A. nilotica showed different half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) against platelet aggregation induced by the various agonists. The order of effectiveness of A. nilotica extract in blocking the platelet aggregation induced by these agonists was AA>ADP>PAF>collagen .The ICs0 of A. nilotica (Ixg/ml) against various agonists varied: AA (60), ADP (140), PAF (400) and collagen (970)⁴⁴.

3.4 Anthelmintic activity:

In vitro anthelmintic activity of crude methanolic extract (CME) of the plants was determined against Haemonchus contortus by the adultmotility assay, the egg hatch test and the larval development assay. In vivo anthelmintic activitywas evaluated in sheep naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes by administering increasing doses of crude powder (CP) and CME (1.0–3.0 g/kg). The plants exhibited dose- and time-dependent anthelmintic effects by causing mortality of worms, and inhibiting egg hatching and larval development⁴⁵.

Anticancer and Antimutagenic Properties:

The chemopreventive activity of aqueous extracts of Acacia nilotica (Linn.) gum, flower and leaf on 7,12–dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) and croton oil induced skin papillomagenesis in male Swiss albino mice. Thus a significant reduction in the tumor burden, tumor incidence, cumulative number of papillomas was noted, with a marked increase in the latency period as compared to the animals treated with single topical application of DMBA alone and croton oil. Significant reduction in micronuclei number and chromosomal aberrations in the form of chromatid breaks, chromosome breaks, centric rings, dicentrics, acentric fragments and exchange was also apparent^42,46.

Antidiarrhoeal activity:

Methanol extracts of A. nilotica showed highest inhibition and the activities were reported at the concentration of 50 ì g/ml. Chloroform extracts of A. nilotica, were found active at the concentration of 100 ì g/ml. Aqueous and petroleum ether extracts of A. nilotica inhibited the pathogen at the concentration of 500 ì g/ml⁴⁷.

Antioxidant activity:

The extracts of A. nilotica pod exhibited strong and effective in vitro and in vivo antioxidant potential by chelation to metal ions as well as scavenging free radicals .Presence of polyphenols is hold responsible for their overall antioxidant potential. It can also prevent strand break formation in supercoiled plasmid DNA and protein oxidation^48-50.

Antihypertensive and Antispasmodic:

A methanol extract of Acacia nilotica Linn. pods caused a dose-dependent (3-30 mg/kg) fall in arterial blood pressure. Treatment of animals with atropine abolished the vasodilator response of acetylcholine (ACh), whereas the antihypertensive effect of the plant extract remained unaltered. Phentolamine (an alpha-adrenergic blocker) abolished the vasoconstrictor effect norepinephrine (NE), whereas pretreatment of the animal, did not modify the NE response. These results indicate that the antihypertensive effect of plant extract is independent of muscarinic receptor stimulation or adrenoceptor blockade. In the in vitro studies, Acacia nilotica produced a dose-dependent (3-3. mg/mL) inhibitory effect on force and rate of spontaneous contractions in guinea-pig paired atria. Similarly, it inhibited the spontaneous contraction of rabbit jejunum in a concentration-dependent (1-3. mg/mL) manner. Acacia nilotica also inhibited K(+)-induced contractions in rabbit jejunum at a similar concentration range, which suggests that the antispasmodic action of Acacia nilotica is mediated through calcium channel blockade, and this may also be responsible for the blood pressure lowering effect of Acacia nilotica observed in the in vivo studies.^51,52

Larvicidal Activity:

The crude extracts of A. nilotica were tested for its biological activity against mosquito larvae. Acetone extract at 500-ppm concentration showed chronic toxicity against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus IVth instar mosquito larvae. Such a biological activity has been observed for the first time for this plant. This study could be a stepping stone to a solution for destroying larval species⁵³.

Anti Inflammatory Activity:

3beta-Acetoxy-17beta-hydroxy-androst-5-ene was isolated from aerial parts of Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd (Mimosaceae). The structure of this compound was established by spectral analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The steroid showed dose-dependent anti-inflammatory activity against TPA-induced mouse earedema⁵⁴.

Immunosuppressive effect:

Acacia nilotica Delile (Mimosaceae) stem bark showed immunosuppressive effect in vivo⁵⁵.

Toxicology:
A. nilotica, at 2% and 8% levels, has a low toxicity potential⁵⁶. In a survey of potentially allergenic plants in Pondicherry, it was reported likely to cause pollen allergy⁵⁷.

CONCLUSION:
The literature survey revealed that Acacia nilotica Linn. is an important source of many therapeutically and pharmacologically actions. The plant has been widely studied for it’s pharmacologically activities and finds its position as a versatile plant having a wide spectrum of medicinal activities. As the global scenario is now changing towards the use of non toxic plant products. The organic and aqueous extract of Acacia nilotica Linn. could be further exploited in the future as a source of useful phytochemical compounds for the pharmaceutical industry.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The authors are very grateful to Director General, CCRAS, New Delhi and for providing encouragement and facilities for carrying out this work. Authors are thankful to Ms. Rekha her assistance for the paper.

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Received on 05.04.2010

Accepted on 11.07.2010

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