## 3 Results
### Acacia
#### 3.2.3 Acacia senegal  
_Acacia senegal_, referred to as white gum tree and gum-arabic acacia, is native to the Sahelian and Sudano-Sahelian regions. It is found throughout the drier regions of tropical Africa, Oman, Pakistan, and India, as well as Egypt, Australia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands [89; 90]. Amongst the four varieties of this species; Var. _Senegal_, Var. _kerensis_ [PERSON], Var. _leiorhachis_ [PERSON], and Var. _rostrata_ (Sim) Brenan; Var. _Senegal_ is the most prevalent, and it is the main source of gum arabic (GA). _A. senegal_ is a 15 m-tall deciduous shrub or a small- to medium-sized tree which is used to improve soils, as fuel, and for local architecture [91]. The gum, which is emitted from trees in response to environmental factors such as heat, low soil fertility, drought, or damage, is traded globally. It is useful as a confectionery in the food processing industry, as an emulsifier, as film coating, and for other applications. In ethnomedicine, gum Arabic is used to treat chronic renal failure, digestive discomfort, and so on [92]. Even though acacia gum was once thought to be an inert substance, a recent study has revealed that it has numerous pharmacological and medicinal effects including weight loss, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, antihyperlipidemic, anti-coagulant, antidiabetic, antibacterial, nephoprotective, and other properties [92]. The gum and seed are used as food and drink; infusions of the gum are used as sedatives; the bark is used for arthritis and rheumat; the gum, bark and root are used for venereal diseases; the seed is used for leprosy [93; 94; 95; 96; 97]. Although _A. senegal_ is best known for its gum arabic, other parts of the plant have also been used in medicines and other applications. _A. senegal_ has historically been used to treat abscesses, boils, trypanosomiasis, stomach aches, abscesses, respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea, haemorrhoids, and sexually transmitted diseases [93].  
_A. senegal_ extracts from various parts have been shown in studies to have pharmacological effects against a variety of human diseases [93, 94, 95]. It has been noted that some Mycobacteria species can be treated with the bark extract of _A. senegal_ to prevent tuberculosis [98]; the leaf extract showed activity against _Pseudomonas aeruginosa_ using the TLC autobiography method [99]; using the agar well diffusion method, the seed extract was significantly effective against one Gram-positive and six Gram-negative bacteria [100]; the hexane extract of the leaves improved the susceptibility of bacteria to phenol antibiotics [96]; and the stem bark extract was significantly active against pathogenic bacteria of the respiratory tract such as _Klebsiella pneumoniae_, _Streptococcus pneumoniae_, _Pseudomonas aeroginosa_, _Staphylococcus aureus_ and _Escherichia coli_[101]. The crude methanol extract of the leaves possessed a significantly higher total phenol content as it demonstrated antioxidant activity by scavenging ABTS and DPPH radicals and offered promise as a natural antioxidant treatment for oxidative-stress-related diseases [102]. When antimicrobial silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized using aqueous leaf extracts, the resulting AgNPs had very potent inhibitory effects on several chosen Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria [103]. In addition, the dried gummy exudate of the plant demonstrated cytoprotective, antioxidant, and resistance to hepatic, renal, and cardiac toxicity in experimental rats. In sickle cell anaemia and other conditions marked by oxidative stress, gum arabic also showed strong anti-oxidative properties [104, 105].