Insights into biological properties of less explored bark of industrially important Acacia catechu Willd

Acacia catechu Willd. is an industrially exploited tree for its heartwood. It also has numerous ethnomedicinal uses especially in gastrointestinal tract-related disorders. However, not much is available on bark of the tree, so the present study highlights the possible therapeutic potential of A. catechu bark. The bark extract/fractions, methanol (MEB), ethyl alcohol (EAFB), n-butanol (NBFB) and aqueous (AFB), were prepared and evaluated for antioxidant, DNA protective and antiproliferative activities. EAFB was found to be most active in scavenging free radicals followed by MEB, NBFB and AFB. UHPLC analysis showed correlation between high antioxidant activity of EAFB due to abundance of quercetin, kaempferol and chlorogenic acid. Further path analysis also grouped together flavonols, flavan, flavone and cinnamic acid derivatives owing them as major compounds responsible for antioxidant activities. The growth inhibitory potential of EAFB was also tested on six human cancer cell lines i.e., lung (A549), prostate (PC-3), breast (MCF-7), liver (Hep-G2), cervix (HeLa) and brain (IMR-32). The latter was found to be most effective against MCF-7 cell line showing IC50 of 137.5 mu g/ml. This study underlined the disease preventive importance of A. catechu bark which can be further explored in pharmaceutical industry using different established models.