Chemical characterisation, comprehensive antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity of fruits and seed oils of Pistacia terebinthus from Greece

Pistacia terebinthus is a medicinal plant and part of the human diet [1]. In this study, we aimed to compare and evaluate the chemical profile of cold pressed terebinth fruit oil from trees growing wild on Chios Island, during three annual harvests (2019 – 2021). Considering the fatty acid composition of the oils, palmitic (24 – 30%), oleic (42 – 45%), and linoleic acids (19 – 22%) were the dominant saturated, mono-unsaturated, and poly-unsaturated fatty acids, respectively [2]. A high content of bioactive phenolic acids, expressed as anacardic acids [2], were measured in the oils (q-1H-NMR) (600 – 1000 mg/kg of oil). Fruit extracts showed high total phenolic content (TPC) (185.92±2.61 mg GAE/g) and significant antioxidant capacity (DPPH),>80% inhibition at 100 µg/mL which highly correlated with TPC. Agar dilution was used to determine the antimicrobial properties of terebinth extracts against selected human pathogenic bacteria and fungi, and interesting activity was noted. The results of this study confirmed that terebinth oil, which is comparable to olive oil, specifically its fruits exhibit strong antiradical and antimicrobial properties and show an important nutritional value. Both fruits and oils could be beneficial to human health due to a high ω-9 and ω-6 acid content, and promising antibacterial and antioxidant properties which could be further evaluated for potential pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food-industry applications.

 

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• References

• 1 Memet I.N.A.N.. Not Bot Horti Agrobot Cluj Napoca 2021; 49 (01) 12171-12171
• 2 Hemshekhar M., Santhosh M., Kemparaju K., Girish K.S.. Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol 2012; 110 (02) 122-132

Publication History

Article published online:
16 November 2023