ABSTRACT
Acacia albida Del (Fabaceae) is one of the largest thorn trees, reaching 30m in height, with spreading branches and a rounded crown. The bark is grey and fissure when old. It belongs to the family Fabaceae. The tree has medicinal value for treatment of respiratory infections and malaria. The bark contains a lot of tannin and has been employed in industries. Phytochemical screening on the root bark extract reveal the presence of Tannins, Flavonoids, Saponins and Alkaloids and were quantitatively estimated to be 12.18, 7.93, 1.90, 0.43 w/w respectively. Thin layer chromatography of the various constituents gave various spots with distinct Rf values. Antioxidant activity of the extract by 2,2- diphenyl-1-picric hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging ability revealed that with increase in concentration of extract radical scavenging activity increases. The standard synthetic antioxidant: ascorbic acid has higher (99.08%) radical scavenging activity than the plant extract at 0.5mg/ml, however the plant extract at the same concentration of 0.5mg/ml exhibited significant (P<0.01) radical scavenging activity of 91.48%. It thus shows a radical scavenging activity as close as that of the standard. Evaluation of the extract for glucose lowering effect revealed a significant (P< 0.05) reduction of high blood glucose level in alloxan induced diabetic rats from 335.33�3.3 on first day treatment to 151�14.42 on 4th day treatment at a dose level of 200mg/kg body weight orally. These findings show that the root bark has antioxidant properties and hypoglycemic effects on alloxan induced diabetic rats. These may support the traditional use of the plant for diabetic management.