Potential therapeutic benefits of unconventional oils: assessment of the potential biological properties of some Rubiaceae, Cucurbitaceae, and Brassicaceae seed oils.

INTRODUCTION

Seed oils are versatile in the food sector and for pharmaceutical purposes. In recent years, their biological properties aroused the interest of the scientific world.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We studied the composition of fatty acids (FAs) and some potential therapeutic benefits of five cold-pressed commercial oils obtained from broccoli, coffee, green coffee, pumpkin, and watermelon seeds. In particular, we assayed the antioxidant activity (using diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) assays). In addition, through the fatty acid composition, we calculated the atherogenicity index (AI) and thrombogenicity index (TI) to evaluate the potential impact of such oils on cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, we assessed the anti-inflammatory capacity of the oils (evaluated through their effectiveness in preventing protein degradation, using bovine serum albumin as protein standard) and the ability of the oils to inhibit activity of three among the essential enzymes, cholinesterases and tyrosinase, involved in the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, we evaluated the capacity of the oils to inhibit the biofilm of some pathogenic bacteria.

RESULTS

The unsaturated fatty acids greatly predominated in broccoli seed oil (84.3%), with erucic acid as the main constituent (33.1%). Other unsaturated fatty acids were linolenic (20.6%) and linoleic (16.1%) acids. The saturated fatty acids fraction comprised the palmitic (6.8%) and stearic acids (0.2%). Broccoli seed oil showed the best AI (0.080) and TI (0.16) indexes. The oils expressed a good antioxidant ability. Except for the watermelon seed oil, the oils exhibited a generally good anti-inflammatory activity, with IC values not exceeding 8.73 micrograms. Broccoli seed oil and green coffee seed oil showed the best acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity; coffee seed oil and broccoli seed oil were the most effective in inhibiting butyrylcholinesterase (IC = 15.7 μg and 20.7 μg, respectively). Pumpkin and green coffee seed oil showed the best inhibitory activity against tyrosinase (IC = 2 μg and 2.77 μg, respectively). In several cases, the seed oils inhibited the biofilm formation and the mature biofilm of some gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, with resulting in the most sensitive strain. Such activity seemed related only in some cases to the capacity of the oils to act on the sessile bacterial cells' metabolism, as indicated by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric method.