Oil from pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seeds: evaluation of its functional properties on wound healing in rats.

BACKGROUND: Increasing natural drug demand for pharmaceutical uses has encouraged scientifics all over the world to explore medicinal plants recognized as efficient remedies. In this context, extracted oil from pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo L.) is an interesting target, as it is composed with prominent pharmacological properties to possible wound healing treatments. METHODS: The composition and content of certain bioactive constituents of the cold pressed oil obtained from pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo L.) were analyzed and studied for their wound healing properties. Uniform wounds were induced on the dorsum of 18 rats, randomly divided into three groups. The wounds were photographed, and topically treated with saline solution (control group), 0.13 mg/mm(2) of a reference drug ("Cicaflora cream®"), and 0.52 µl/mm(2) of pumpkin's oil each 2 days until the first group is completely healing and so far biopsies were histologically assessed. RESULTS: The composition and content of tocopherols, fatty acids, and phytosterols were determined. The results showed an excellent quality of pumpkin oil with high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (Linoleic acid: 50.88 ± 0.106 g/100 g of total fatty acids), tocopherols (280 ppm) and sterols (2086.5 ± 19.092 ppm). High content of these bioactive components were in agreement with an efficient wound healing by the mean of an in vivo study. In fact, morphometric assessment and histological findings revealed healed biopsies from pumpkin oil treated group of rats, unlike untreated group, and a full re-epithelialization with reappearance of skin appendages and well organized collagen fibers without inflammatory cells. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the significance of oil from pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo L.) as a promising drug to healing wounds in animal assays. As a whole, pumpkin's oil would be recommended in the nutritional and medicinal purposes.

The sweet and embellishing Lycium arabicum Schweinf. ex Boiss. fruit oil: a potential source of essential ω-6 and ω-9 fatty acids, phytosterols, and carotenoids.

In our current phytochemical investigation on the Tunisian plant Lycium arabicum Schweinf. ex Boiss., we attempted to explore the oil obtained from its fruits. This oil was extracted by cold maceration with ethanol and was analyzed to estimate its sterol and fatty acid content. The physicochemical parameters of the oil were also examined. They were specified in terms of acid value (0.8 ± 0.01 mg KOH g-1 oil), peroxide value (10.9 ± 0.02 meq O2 kg-1 oil), saponification value (162.97 ± 0.03 mg KOH g-1 oil), chlorophylls (1.011 ± 0.03 mg kg-1 oil) and carotenoids (42.1 ± 0.05mg kg-1 oil). Gas chromatography analysis demonstrated that oleic (33.5%), palmitic (26.81%) and linoleic (21.51%) acids were the dominant fatty acids. Furthermore, the analysis of this oil with HPLC equipped with a differential refractometer detector (DRD) showed that Palmitic-Oleic-Oleic (21.10%) and Oleic-Oleic-Oleic/Palmitoleic-Palmitic-Palmitic (17.11%) are the main triacylglycerols in this oil. It was also found that this oil contains high levels of ß-sitosterol (31.51%), Δ-5-Avenasterol (25.17%), and Δ-7-Avenasterol (15.22%). Analysis of its spectroscopic features allowed us to deduce that this oil contains some sugars like glucose, sucrose, and fructose as well as several carotenoid pigments. From this perspective, Lycium arabicum fruits oil (LAFO) maybe regarded as a worthwhile product that deserves supplementary consideration and investigation as a potentially new multi-purpose candidate for agro-food as a sweetener and a beautifier, in addition to its extreme usefulness for cosmetic and medicinal applications owing to its richness in phytosterols and conservative pigments.

Putative Markers of Adulteration of Higher-Grade Olive Oil with Less Expensive Pomace Olive Oil Identified by Gas Chromatography Combined with Chemometrics.

This work has been performed to ascertain that extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) is free of adulteration. For this purpose, refined pomace olive oils (RPOOs) are commonly used for extra-virgin olive oil adulteration and repassed olive oils (ROOs) are used for lampante olive oil (LOO) fraudulent operation. Indeed, fatty acid ethyl esters could be used as a parameter for the detection of EVOO fraud with 2% RPOO. The addition of >10% RPOO to EVOO would be detected by the amount of erythrodiol, uvaol, waxes, and aliphatic alcohols. Moreover, the use of stigmasta-3,5-diene content proved to be effective in EVOO adulteration even at a low level (with 1% RPOO). For the detection of adulteration of LOO with >5% ROO, the sum of erythrodiol, uvaol, and the waxes and esters can be considered as good markers of purity. Using linear discriminant analysis can identify the most discriminant variable that allows a faster and cheaper evaluation of extra-virgin olive oil adulteration by measuring only these variables.

Characterization and Discrimination of Oueslati Virgin Olive Oils from Adult and Young Trees in Different Ripening Stages Using Sterols, Pigments, and Alcohols in Tandem with Chemometrics.

Dynamics of squalene, sterol, aliphatic alcohol, pigment, and triterpenic diol accumulations in olive oils from adult and young trees of the Oueslati cultivar were studied for two consecutive years, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. Data were compared statistically for differences by age of trees, maturation of olive, and year of harvesting. Results showed that the mean campesterol content in olive oil from adult trees at the green stage of maturation was significantly (p < 0.02) above the limit established by IOC legislation. However, the mean values of campesterol and Δ-7-stigmastenol were significantly (p < 0.01) above the limits in oils from young trees at the black stage of ripening. Principal component analysis was applied to alcohols, squalene, pigments, and sterols having noncompliance with the legislation. Then, data of 36 samples were subjected to a discriminant analysis with "maturation" as grouping variable and principal components as input variables. The model revealed clear discrimination of each tree age/maturation stage group.

Effect of olive storage conditions on Chemlali olive oil quality and the effective role of fatty acids alkyl esters in checking olive oils authenticity.

The present paper accounts for the study of the storage of Chemlali olive fruits at two conditions of limited aerobiosis: in closed plastic bags and in open perforated plastic boxes for different periods before oil extraction. The ultimate objective is to investigate the effect of the container type of the postharvest fruit storage on the deterioration of the olive oil quality. The results have shown that the oil quality of Chemlali olives deteriorated more rapidly during fruit storage in closed plastic bags than in perforated plastic boxes. Therefore, the use of perforated plastic boxes is recommended for keeping the olives for longer periods of storage. The repeated measures analysis of variance of all parameters analyzed indicated that the olive oil quality is mainly affected by the olives storage conditions (containers type and storage periods). Finally, blends of extra-virgin olive oil and mildly deodorized low-quality olive oils can be detected by their alkyl esters concentrations.

Detection of Chemlali extra-virgin olive oil adulteration mixed with soybean oil, corn oil, and sunflower oil by using GC and HPLC.

Fatty acid composition as an indicator of purity suggests that linolenic acid content could be used as a parameter for the detection of extra/virgin olive oil fraud with 5% of soybean oil. The adulteration could also be detected by the increase of the trans-fatty acid contents with 3% of soybean oil, 2% of corn oil, and 4% of sunflower oil. The use of the ΔECN42 proved to be effective in Chemlali extra-virgin olive oil adulteration even at low levels: 1% of sunflower oil, 3% of soybean oil, and 3% of corn oil. The sterol profile is almost decisive in clarifying the adulteration of olive oils with other cheaper ones: 1% of sunflower oil could be detected by the increase of Δ7-stigmastenol and 4% of corn oil by the increase of campesterol. Linear discriminant analysis could represent a powerful tool for faster and cheaper evaluation of extra-virgin olive oil adulteration.

Monitoring of quality and stability characteristics and fatty acid compositions of refined olive and seed oils during repeated pan- and deep-frying using GC, FT-NIRS, and chemometrics.

Refined olive, corn, soybean, and sunflower oils were used as cooking oils for deep-frying at two different temperatures, 160 and 190 °C, and for pan-frying of potatoes at 180 °C for 10 successive sessions under the usual domestic practice. Several chemical parameters were assayed during frying operations to evaluate the status of the frying oils. Refined olive oil, as frying oil, was found to be more stable than the refined seed oils. In fact, this oil has proven the greatest resistance to oxidative deterioration, and its trans-fatty acid contents and percentages of total polar compounds were found to be lower at 160 °C during deep-frying. Finally, chemometric analysis has demonstrated that the lowest deterioration of the quality of all refined oils occurred in the refined olive oil during deep-frying at 160 °C and the highest deterioration occurred in the refined sunflower oil during pan-frying at 180 °C.