Chromatographic Studies andin vitroScreening for Acetyl Cholinesterase Inhibition and Antioxidant Activity of three Acacia Species from South India

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the radical scavenging and anti AChE activity of three Acacia species collected from south India. Ethanolic extracts of three Acacia species collected from South India were analyzed for their activity towards acetylcholinestrase (AChE) enzyme and their antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using different in vitro techniques such as DPPH assay, NO quenching assay and ABTS assay. Anti-acetylcholinestrase activity was measured using Ellman;s method. The chemical profiling was done using HPLC. Most of the plant materials analyzed showed some inhibitory activity towards acetyl cholinesterase. Acacia catechu and Acacia leucophloea extracts were generally less potent. Acacia nilotica showed comparatively significant AChE activity. Acacia nilotica have good inhibitory properties and exhibited a dose dependent relationship (1 mgml−1, 27.65 %.; 5 mgml−1, 32.44 %; 15 mgml−1, 47.87%; 25 mgml−1 63.28 %). A. nilotica showed the highest NO quenching capacity (48.12 %), followed by A.catechu (44.1 %) and Acacia leucophloea (40.32 %) per 10 µg extract. The total antioxidant potential was found to be highest in Acacia nilotica (0.46 mmol/L TEAC/mg of extract). All the extracts had higher total antioxidant capacity in comparison of catechin. Higher values of AChE inhibitory activity and antioxidant activity were found for Acacia nilotica.