Fatty acid composition and antioxidant activities of five medicinal plants from Kashmir

Ulmus wallichiana Planch., Celosia argentea L, Sisymbrium irio L., Aesculus indica Colebr. and Abies pindrow Royle have got significant nutritious and medicinal importance. In the present study seed extracts of these five plants from Kashmir were studied for their fatty acid composition and antioxidant activities. The petroleum ether extract of seeds were characterized by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, consisting mainly of unsaturated fatty acids notably oleic and linoleic acids with U. wallichiana (29%, 31.6%), C. argentea (22.3%, 51.5%), S. irio (30.7%, 30.3%) and A. pindrow (76.1%, 6.5%) respectively, while as A. indica contain (47%) linoleic acid. Also substantial amount of saturated fatty acids mostly palmitic acid was also present. Antioxidant activity of the defatted extracts of chloroform and methanol were evaluated using 2,2-di-phenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging assay. Almost all the assays suggest defatted extracts to have the strongest antioxidant property at various concentrations. The high unsaturated fatty acid concentration and significantly that of palmitic acid in petroleum ether extracts could have valuable applications in nutraceutical and cosmetic industry. Moreover the strong antioxidant activities of their defatted seed extracts could be considered as potentially new source of antioxidants.