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Betula utilis, also known as Himalayan silver birch has been used as a traditional medicine for many health ailments like inflammatation, HIV, renal and bladder disorders as well as many cancers from ages. Here, we performed bio-guided fractionation of Betula utilis Bark (BUB), in which it was extracted in methanol and fractionated with hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform, n-butanol and water. All six fractions were evaluated for their in-vitro anticancer activity in nine different cancer cell lines and ethyl acetate fraction was found to be one of the most potent fractions in terms of inducing cytotoxic activity against various cancer cell lines. By utilizing column chromatography, six triterpenes namely betulin, betulinic acid, lupeol, ursolic acid (UA), oleanolic acid and β-amyrin have been isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of BUB and structures of these compounds were unraveled by spectroscopic methods. β-amyrin and UA were isolated for the first time from Betula utilis. Isolated triterpenes were tested for in-vitro cytotoxic activity against six different cancer cell lines where UA was found to be selective for breast cancer cells over non-tumorigenic breast epithelial cells (MCF 10A). Tumor cell selective apoptotic action of UA was mainly attributed due to the activation of extrinsic apoptosis pathway via up regulation of DR4, DR5 and PARP cleavage in MCF-7 cells over non-tumorigenic MCF-10A cells. Moreover, UA mediated intracellular ROS generation and mitochondrial membrane potential disruption also play a key role for its anti cancer effect. UA also inhibits breast cancer migration. Altogether, we discovered novel source of UA having potent tumor cell specific cytotoxic property, indicating its therapeutic potential against breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compounds having antimicrobial activity obtained from plant sources are useful because they are new sources against antibiotic resistance. The present study is based on the evaluation of antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of the fresh bark ofBetula utilisand to identify the chemical constituents responsible for antimicrobial potential, grown in high altitude of Himalaya, India. The chemical constituents of essential oil were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The essential oil was evaluated for the antimicrobial potential against human pathogenic bacteria and fungi by using a micro-dilution assay. GC-MS analysis revealed that the major constituents of the essential oil were geranic acid (11.38 %), β-seleneol (10.98 %), β-linalool (10.91 %), terragon (10.61 %), β-sesquiphellendrene (8.02 %), champacol (6.33 %) and 1,8-cineol (5.49 %). Result showed thatB. utilisessential oil has a strong antimicrobial activity against the fungusCandida albicansand Gram (+) and Gram (-) human pathogenic bacteria (MIC: 60.5-240 µg/ml). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the study regarding the fatty acid characterization in Himalayan silver birch's (Betula utilis) bark. The study extracted the bark using petroleum ether wherein fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) of the bark were analyzed and separated through gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Result shows that 19 fatty acids were found in the tree which include betulin, oleanolic acid, and lupeol.