ESTIMATION OF TOTAL POLYPHENOLIC CONTENT IN AQUEOUS AND METHANOLIC EXTRACTS FROM THE BARK OF ACACIA NILOTICA

Plant polyphenols have been studied largely because of the possibility that they might underlie the protective effects afforded by fruit and vegetable intake against cancer and other chronic diseases. The objective of the present study is to estimate the total polyphenolic content in aqueous and methanolic extract prepared from the bark of Acacia nilotica plant species. Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd. ex Del commonly known as babul, kikar or Indian gum Arabic tree, has been recognized worldwide as a multipurpose tree. Mostly it occurs as an isolated tree and rarely found in patches to a limited extent in forests and has been widely planted on farms throughout the plains of the Indian subcontinent. The bark, root, gum, leaves and flowers have found use for skin diseases, diarrhoea, dysentery, cough, diabetes, eczema, wound healing, burning sensation and as an astringent, demulcent, anti-asthmatic. For present work the bark of well identified A. nilotica (L) plant for the extraction of phytochemicals was done from the village Khargawali (Hoshangabad district). 20-20 grams of the fine powdered sample were subjected to soxhlet extraction with 200 ml distilled water and 40% methanol separately at 70^oC and 50^oC respectively, for 24 hours and concentrated. The percentage yield so obtained was 35 and 32.5% respectively. The extracts were then subjected for preliminary phytochemical screening of alkaloids, tannins, terpenoids, saponins, flavonoids and glycosides the results of which refers to data given in this article. The total phenolic content of the extracts was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu method with suitable modification. When compared with the gallic acid standard curve the aqueous extract of 0.01 mg/ml dilution contains 0.323 mg/ml approx of total polyphenol content and that of the methanolic extract of the same concentration shows 0.422 mg/ml approx concentration of TPC. Thus from the present study it can be concluded that the aqueous and methanolic extracts A. nilotica are rich in  TPC, the potential of which could be utilized in many ways after further advance studies and proper data generation for the development of new chemotherapeutic agents.