Crown Journal of Medicine Volume 1, issue 2, pp 09-11 November 2011

Full Length Research Paper

Pharmacological activities of Acacia arabica

Nadia Zahoor, Khan Usmanghani, M.Akram, H.M.Asif, Qalb E Saleem, Abdul Sami, Asim Awan, 1Abdul Bari,1Umar Toseef

Faculty of Eastern Medicine, Hamdard University Karachi, Pakistan

Accepted 3nd November 2011

Acacia arabica has been used as astringent, demulcent, nutritive, expectorant, styptic and tonic in Unani system of medicine. In this article, the pharmacological activities as astringent, immunosuppressant, antibacterial, antitumor, antithrombotic, hypoglycemic activity of Acacia arabica has been described herewith

Key words: Active constituents, immunosuppressant, hypoglycemic and pharmacological activity of Acacia arabica

Introduction

Latin Name: Acacia arabica English Name: Acacia Botanical Name: Acacia arabica Family: Mimosaceae Hindi: Babul Arabian : Samagh arabi Part Used : Leaves, stem bark, Gum, ripe and Unripe pods.

Objective

To review the published literature on Acacia arabica.

Methodology

Relevant articles were searched using the terms Acacia arabica, active constituents, medicinal and pharmacological activity.

Description

It is a moderate-sized, almost evergreen tree with a short

*Corresponding author Email: makram_0451@hotmail.com

trunk, and a spreading crown. The bark is dark brown to almost black, longitudinally fissured or deeply cracked, contains plentiful amount of tannins. The taste of bark is bitter. Leaves are 2-pinnate and 5-10 cm long, spines are variable, 0.65 cm long. 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 constricted between the circular seeds, 8-12(Kloucek P et al, 2005).

Active constituents

Gum arabic, tannins, mucilage, catechin, arabic acid, malic acid, gallic acid,megnesium,potassium,calcium, flavonoid compounds. Gum arabic, tannins, mucilage,

10 Zahoor et al

Figure1: Acacia Arabica

Figure 2: Acacia Arabica gum

catechin, arabic acid, malic acid, gallic acid, megnesium,potassium,calcium, flavonoid compounds(Cragg GM et al, 2005, Grabely S et al, 1999)

Medicinal activity

Astringent, demulcent, antidysentric, aphrodisiac, expectorant, antacid, nutritive and tonic(Cole MD, 1994). Decoction of the bark is used in vaginitis, leucorrhea and gonorrhea(Erdogrul OT, 2002). Gum in the form of mucilage is used for the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery and diabetes. Powdered gum is used to treat hemorrhages(Cos P et al, 2006). Gum is useful nutritive tonic and aphrodisiac in sexual debility(Mahmood T et al, 2004). Pods are used in cough. Pods are expectorant(Gupta MP et al, 2005). The decoction made from the leaves is useful in spongy gums sore throat and as wash in hemorrhagic ulcers and wounds(Gohl B, 1975). Tender growing tops rubbed into paste with sugar and water act as demulcent in coughs(Rojas JJ et al, 2006), watery extract is given to allay irritation in acute gonorrhea, especially in cases complicated with leprosy and leucorrhea(Qureshi RA et al, 2007). Plant is considered to be antacid, antidysentric and antispasmo

dic(Diallo D et al, 1999).

Pharmacological activity

The decoction of the bark is largely used as a local astringent douche or enema in vaginitis, leucorrhoea, cystitis, gonorrhea, piles, prolapsus ani and prolapsus uteri(Jeevam RA et al, 2004, Kloucek P et al, 2005). It represents a new class of plant stress metabolites capable of activating stress adaptation and suppressing proinflammatory components of the immune system in human cells by redox regulation(Bessong PO et al, 2006). This plant has antibacterial activity(Banso A, 2009, Sandhu DS et al, 2005). Acacia inhibits tumor cell growth and induces apoptosis, in part, by perturbing mitochondrial function(Das SN et al, 1983). it is selectively toxic to tumor cells at very low doses. It has been shown to have potent cytotoxicity activity (apoptosis) against human T-cell leukemia(Agrawal S et al, 1990). Antiplatelet aggregatory activity of the extract of Acacia nilotica is mainly due to the blockade of Ca2+ channels(Shah BH et al, 1997, Gilani AH et al, 1999). Evidence also suggests the involvement of protein kinase C(Hussein G et al, 1999, Hussein G et al, 2000). Acacia catechu extract decreased blood sugar of normal animals(Clark DT et al, 1993, Edeoga HO et al, 2005). It is believed that the extract causes the pancreas to secrete more insulin in normal animals. Similarly, Acacia coriacea mixed into wheat bread (18 grams per 82 grams wheat flour) significantly reduced the initial rise in plasma glucose levels and the area under the plasma glucose curve in six nondiabetic subjects compared to flour alone. Wadood A et al have studied effects of Acacia arabica and Caralluma edulis on blood glucose levels on normal and alloxan diabetic rabbits (Wadood A et al, 1989). Singh KN et al have studied the hypoglycemic activity of Acacia Arabica (Singh KN et al, 1975).

Conclusion

The pharmacological activities as astringent, immunosuppressant, antibacterial, antitumor, antithrombotic, hypoglycemic have been documented. In conclusion Berberis aristata have wide range of medicinal uses and can be used for the treatment diarrhea, dysentery and diabetes mellitus, vaginitis and syphilitic infections.

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