Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Advances in Traditional Medicine https://doi.org/10.1007/s13596-020-00456-4 RESEARCH ARTICLE Benefcial efect of phospholipase A2 group IIA inhibitors from Acacia suma in obesity: an in silico and in vitro study Nikita Kanbarkar 1  · Sanjay Mishra 1,2  · Pukar Khanal 2 Received: 6 March 2020 / Accepted: 4 May 2020 © Institute of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University 2020 Abstract Acacia suma Roxb. (Fabaceae) is Ayurvedic medicine distributed in Karnataka, Bengal and Bihar region. Phytoconstituents of A. suma were retrieved from ChEIB databases and queried for phospholipase A2 group IIA inhibitors. The present study is an efort to fnd out a novel therapeutic solution for the management of obesity disorders. Out of 29 reported compounds three were identifed in modulating phospholipase A2 group IIA inhibitor their drug likeness score andprobable gene expression was identifed. Docking study was performed using autodock4.0 to predict binding afnity of phytoconstituents with phospho- lipase A2 group IIA inhibitor and compared with clinically proven drug ‘Orlistat’ as lipase inhibitor. The respected pathway to show networking between phytochemicals and target were analyse by kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway analysis for regulated genes. Further, in silico fndings were validated for hydroalcoholic extract of A. suma by in vitro lipase inhibition assay. Molecular docking result revealed the presence of three favonoid compounds for lipase inhibition activity namely: (1) (5S,7R,8R,9R,10S)-(−)-7,8–seco-7,8–oxacassa-13,15-diene-7,17-diol (2) Fisetinidol-(4α,6)-gallocatechin and (3) Quercetin4′-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-3-O-β-D-allopyranoside. However, Quercetin4′-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-3-O-β- D-allopyranoside was predicted to possess the highest docking score i.e. − 7.6 kcal/mol with phospholipase A2 group IIA. The in vitro fndings revealed signifcant anti-lipase activity with IC 50 value − 46.07 μg/ml. Hence, the in silico and in vitro approaches has presented strong binding afnity and signifcant lipase inhibition activity respectively which supports anti- obesity potential of heart wood hydroalcoholic extract of A. suma. Keywords Acacia suma · Catechin · Lipase inhibition · In silico study · Obesity Abbreviations ADMET Absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity API Ayurvedic pharmacopeia of India BMI Body mass index ChEBI Chemical entities of biological interest ELISA Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay FDA Food and drug administration KEGG Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes PCIDB Phytochemical interactions DB PDB Protein Data Bank PNPB P-nitrophenyl butyrate RCSB Research collaboratory for structural bioinformatics SMILES Simplifed molecular-Input line-entry system STRING Search tool for the retrieval of interacting genes/proteins WHO World Health Organization Introduction Obesity is the outcome of an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. BMI [body mass index] ≥ 30 kg/m 2 is measured as obesity (Pradeepa et al. 2015). It is the key player to contribute for metabolic syn- drome associated with complications such as diabetic mel- litus, non-alcoholic fatty liver, arteriosclerosis and cancer (Fruh 2017). According to World Health Organisation, more * Sanjay Mishra bt.sanjay@gmail.com; sanjaymishra@klepharm.edu 1 KAHER’s Dr. Prabhakar Kore Basic Science Research Center, III Floor, V. K. Institute of Dental Sciences, KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research (KLE University), Nehru Nagar, Belagavi, Karnataka 590010, India 2 KLE College of Pharmacy, Belagavi Campus, KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research, Nehru Nagar, Belagavi, Karnataka 590010, India