In vitro Evaluation of Acacia nilotica Pods for its Antioxidant , Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitory Activities and Phytochemical Screening

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive decline of memory and cognition. In the current study we have evaluate the antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase activities and also phytochemical screening of Acacia nilotica pods. We used the methods of (Shimida et al., 1992) and (Dinis et al., 1994) to Alsiddig Osama,Sufyan Awdelkarim, Eltayeb Fadul, Ghada Mohamed, Modathir Siddig, Abdul-Aziz Sheikh, Amjad Abdelmoneim, Asaad Khalid, Ali MohammedIn vitro Evaluation of Acacia nilotica Pods for its Antioxidant, Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitory Activities and Phytochemical Screening EUROPEAN ACADEMIC RESEARCH Vol. III, Issue 3 / June 2015 3060 determine the antioxidant activity by DPPH and iron chelating assays respectively, the method of (Ellmam et al., 1961) was followed to evaluate the Acetylcholinesterase inhibitory potential. IC50 values of DPPH assay was found to be (4.0 ± 0.03, 3.4 ± 0.11, 3.6 ± 0.05, 10 ± 0.16) for chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol, and aqua’s fractions, and the acetylcholinesterase inhibitory potential was found (0.35± 0.04, 1.97± 0.03, 0.74± 0.09, 5.40± 0.11) for the same samples. The results of phytochemical screening showed that all fractions of studied plant contain tannins, saponins, flavonoids, terpenes, steroids anthraquinones, proteins, amino acids and carbohydrates. The results we obtained could make Acacia nilotica pods an ideal initial source for antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase leads.