In-vitro Investigation of the Anti-diabetic and Anticancer Potential of Acacia pennata Leaves Extract and its Phenolic Content

Abdallah, Inas Z.A.; Elbakry, Hagar Farid; Al-Okbi, Sahar Y.; Abd El-kader, Mona S.M.

doi:10.21608/ejchem.2025.335031.10771

In-vitro Investigation of the Anti-diabetic and Anticancer Potential of Acacia pennata Leaves Extract and its Phenolic Content

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Home Economics, Helwan University, Egypt

² Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/ejchem.2025.335031.10771

Abstract

Diabetes is a significant public health problem in Egypt and worldwide. In addition hepatocellular carcinoma is the sixth ‎common malignancy in the world. Therefore, the current study was conducted to evaluate the in-vitro efficiency of Acacia ‎pennata leaves aqueous ethanol extract (APLE) in mitigating hyperglycemia and limiting the growth of HepG2 cancer cell ‎lines. Methodology involved HPLC analysis of APLE for determination of phenolic compounds. Alpha glucosidase and α-‎amylase inhibitory activities of APLE were estimated. The IC50 of APLE against hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines was ‎assessed. Acute toxicity test of the extract was done. Results showed that APLE was rich in phenolic compounds of which ‎quercetin (343 μg/g) was the major identified flavonoid. APLE showed alpha amylase inhibitory activity with IC50 of 1.05 ‎mg/ml and alpha glucosidase inhibitory activity with IC50 of 0.34 mg/ml. APLE showed anti-cancer effect against HepG2 ‎cell lines with IC50 of 114 μg/ml. Safety of the APLE was confirmed in senile mice with no death or signs of acute toxicity ‎appeared on mice after 24 hours of oral administration of up to 10 g APLE/kg mice body weight. Conclusion: Acacia ‎pennata leaves aq. alcohol extract has in-vitro anti-diabetic activity as well as anti-cancer effect against HepG2 cell lines ‎which could be ascribed to the presence of phenolic compounds.

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