Polyzos Nikolaos, Fernandes Ângela, Calhelha Ricardo C, Petrović Jovana, Soković Marina, Ferreira Isabel C F R, Barros Lillian, Petropoulos Spyridon A
Laboratory of Vegetable Production, Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Fytokou Street, 384 46 Volos, Greece.
Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal.
Plants (Basel). 2024 Aug 27;13(17):2395. doi: 10.3390/plants13172395.
The goal of the current work was to assess the nutritional profile and phytochemical properties of cucurbit ( L.) seeds, seed oils and oil extraction by-products (e.g., seed-cakes). Our results suggest a high nutritional value for both cucurbit seeds and cucurbit cake, while γ-tocopherol was the richest compound, with traces of α, β and δ-tocopherol compounds also detected. Regarding the free sugars composition, there were recorded significant statistical differences between seeds and cucurbit seed-cake, although sucrose content was the highest for both matrices (1.97 and 2.9 g/100 g dw, respectively) followed by trehalose (0.26 and 0.25 g/100 g dw, respectively), fructose (0.20 and 0.34 g/100 g dw, respectively) and glucose (0.21 and 0.19 g/100 g dw, respectively). In terms of organic acids, oxalic was the only compound detected in seed cake (0.006 g/100 g dw), while in seeds only traces of oxalic and malic acid were detected. In relation to fatty acid composition, linolenic acid was the most abundant compound in both seeds and seed-cake (43.9% and 41.5%, respectively), while oleic acid (37.0% and 36.3%, respectively), palmitic acid (12.2% and 14.0%, respectively) and stearic acid (4.83% and 5.46%, respectively) were detected in lesser amounts. Moreover, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were the major fatty acids class (44.5% and 42.3% in seeds and seed cake, respectively) compared to monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA; 37.4% and 36.7% in seeds and seed cake, respectively) and saturated fatty acids (SFA; 18.1% and 21.0% in seeds and seed cake, respectively) which were detected in lower amounts. Furthermore, the tested extracts did not present any cytotoxic or hepatoxic activity at the maximum tested concentration (GI > 400 μg/mL), while seed oils presented satisfactory antimicrobial properties with inhibitory activity against the studied bacterial strains and fungi. Our findings provide valuable knowledge regarding the exploitation of pumpkin seeds and seed by-products as valuable natural sources of nutrients and phytochemicals in the food industry sector within the context of a circular economy.
当前工作的目标是评估葫芦科（L.）种子、种子油和油提取副产品（如籽饼）的营养成分和植物化学特性。我们的结果表明葫芦科种子和葫芦科籽饼都具有很高的营养价值，而γ-生育酚是最丰富的化合物，同时也检测到了微量的α、β和δ-生育酚化合物。关于游离糖组成，种子和葫芦科籽饼之间存在显著的统计学差异，尽管两种基质中的蔗糖含量最高（分别为1.97和2.9克/100克干重），其次是海藻糖（分别为0.26和0.25克/100克干重）、果糖（分别为0.20和0.34克/100克干重）和葡萄糖（分别为0.21和0.19克/100克干重）。就有机酸而言，草酸是籽饼中唯一检测到的化合物（0.006克/100克干重），而在种子中仅检测到微量的草酸和苹果酸。关于脂肪酸组成，亚麻酸是种子和籽饼中最丰富的化合物（分别为43.9%和41.5%），而油酸（分别为37.0%和36.3%）、棕榈酸（分别为12.2%和14.0%）和硬脂酸（分别为4.83%和5.46%）的含量较少。此外，与单不饱和脂肪酸（MUFA；种子和籽饼中分别为37.4%和36.7%）和饱和脂肪酸（SFA；种子和籽饼中分别为18.1%和21.0%）相比，多不饱和脂肪酸（PUFA）是主要的脂肪酸类别（种子和籽饼中分别为44.5%和42.3%），其含量较低。此外，在最大测试浓度（GI>400μg/mL）下，测试提取物未表现出任何细胞毒性或肝毒性活性，而种子油具有令人满意的抗菌特性，对所研究的细菌菌株和真菌具有抑制活性。我们的研究结果为在循环经济背景下，将南瓜籽和种子副产品作为食品工业中有价值的天然营养和植物化学物质来源进行开发提供了有价值的知识。
