Phlorizin from Bauhinia blakeana Leaves: Isolation, HDAC8 Docking Analysis, Cytotoxicity in SH-SY5Y Neuronal Cells, and Implications for Alzheimer's Disease

  • Kalaiselvi Chinnamuthu Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Eachanari, Seerapalayam, 641021 Tamil Nadu, India https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9004-7958
  • Saravanan Gopal Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Eachanari, Seerapalayam, 641021 Tamil Nadu, India https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9511-6594

Abstract

Bauhinia blakeana leaves, an understudied medicinal plant, harbor phlorizin (PZ), a natural dihydrochalcone with antioxidant properties that might play into Alzheimer's disease pathways through glucose handling and inflammation control. This work set out to isolate PZ from B. blakeana leaves, verify its structure, test its effects on neuron-like SH-SY5Y cells, and check how it binds to HDAC8, a key epigenetic target in neurodegeneration via computational docking. PZ came out clean from silica gel chromatography (fractions 54-62, single TLC spot at Rf 0.38), confirmed by melting point 110-113°C, ESI-MS m/z 437.2 [M+H]+, diagnostic NMR peaks for aromatic/sugar protons and carbons, and FTIR for OH/CO groups. PZ docked solidly into HDAC8's active site (-4.79 kcal/mol binding energy, Ki 7.28 µM), held by H-bonds to His143 (2.8 Å), His180 (2.9 Å), and Gly206 (2.7-3.1 Å), and hydrophobic fits with Phe207/Tyr306. In cells, it slashed viability dose-dependently, down to 8% at 40 µg/mL, IC50 9.13 µg/mL, with neurites retracting and cells shrinking above 10 µg/mL. This study showed that Bauhinia blakeana leaves were a reliable source of phlorizin and that the isolated compound was structurally identical to PZ reported from other plants. Computational docking suggested that phlorizin can occupy the catalytic pocket of HDAC8 in a reasonable binding orientation, pointing to a potential interaction with epigenetic machinery. In differentiated SH‑SY5Y cells, phlorizin produced a clear, concentration‑dependent loss of viability that matched the observed morphological damage.

Keywords: FTIR, HDAC8, MTT assay, Phlorizin, SH‑SY5Y

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References

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Chinnamuthu, K. and Gopal, S. (2026) “Phlorizin from Bauhinia blakeana Leaves: Isolation, HDAC8 Docking Analysis, Cytotoxicity in SH-SY5Y Neuronal Cells, and Implications for Alzheimer’s Disease”, International Journal of Advancement in Life Sciences Research, 9(4), pp. 193-205. doi: https://doi.org/10.31632/ijalsr.2026.v09i04.012.