Fatty acid profile and in vitro biological properties of two Rosacea species (Pyrus glabra and Pyrus syriaca)

Fatty acid profile and in vitro biological properties of two Rosacea species (Pyrus glabra and Pyrus syriaca), grown as wild in Iran:

One of the most important findings of this study is the introduction of Pyrus glabra and Pyrus syriaca as a new source of plant oils. The significant amount of antioxidants, especially in P. glabra oil, may serve as a dietary source of natural antioxidants and increase the stability and quality of food products. The results showed that the P. glabra seed oil is rich in α‐tocopherol. Hence, the potential utilization of these seed oils as a raw material for food, chemical, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries could be favorable.

Abstract

The high demands for the consumption of edible oils have caused scientists to struggle in assessing wild plants as a new source of seed oils. Therefore, in this study, the oil yield, fatty acid and tocopherol compositions, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the oils obtained from Iran's two endemic plants (Pyrus glabra and Pyrus syriaca) were investigated. The obtained oil yields from the P. glabra and P. syriaca seeds were 33 ± 0.51 and 26 ± 0.28 w/w%, respectively. Oleic acid (C18:1) with the amount of 49.51 ± 1.05% was the major fatty acid in the P. glabra oil, while the main fatty acids in the P. syriaca seed oil belonged to linoleic acid (C18:2) and oleic acid (C18:1) with the amounts of 46.99 ± 0.37 and 41.43 ± 0.23%, respectively. The analysis of tocopherols was done by HPLC, and the results indicated that the P. glabra and P. syriaca seed oils were rich in α‐tocopherol (69.80 ± 1.91 and 45.50 ± 1.86 mg/100 g oil, respectively), constituting 86.24 and 89.01% of total detected tocopherols, respectively. The study on the reducing capacity of the oils indicated that the P. glabra oil had more reducing capacity than the P. syriaca oil. Moreover, the antioxidant activity of the P. glabra seed oil (43.4 ± 0.7 µg/ml) was higher than the P. syriaca seed oil (46.3 ± 1.2 µg/ml). Also, the investigation of the antibacterial activities indicated that the P. glabra and P. syriaca oils have an inhibitory effect on the studied bacteria. The results indicate that the oils of these plants can be appropriate sources of plant oils which can act as natural antibacterial agents.