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. 2018 Mar 1;7(3):30.
doi: 10.3390/foods7030030.

Chemical and Nutritional Characterization of Seed Oil from Cucurbita maxima L. (var. Berrettina) Pumpkin

Domenico Montesano  1 , Francesca Blasi  2 , Maria Stella Simonetti  3 , Antonello Santini  4 , Lina Cossignani  5
Affiliations

Chemical and Nutritional Characterization of Seed Oil from Cucurbita maxima L. (var. Berrettina) Pumpkin

Domenico Montesano et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.) has received considerable attention in recent years because of the nutritional and health-protective value of seed oil. The nutritional composition of pumpkin native to central Italy, locally known as "Berrettina" (Cucurbita maxima L.), was evaluated. In particular, the lipid fraction of seed oil was characterized, and the triacylglycerol (TAG) was thoroughly studied by using a stereospecific procedure to obtain the intrapositional fatty acid composition of the three sn-positions of the glycerol backbone of TAG. Moreover, alkaline hydrolysis was carried out to study the main components of the unsaponifiable fraction, i.e., sterols and alcohols. It was observed that monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids were the most abundant (41.7% and 37.2%, respectively) in Berrettina pumpkin seed oil, with high content of oleic and linoleic acid (41.4% and 37.0%, respectively). The main sterols of Berrettina pumpkin seed oil were Δ7,22,25-stigmastatrienol, Δ7,25-stigmastadienol, and spinasterol; with regard to the alcoholic fraction, triterpenic compounds were more abundant than aliphatic compounds (63.2% vs. 36.8%). The obtained data are useful to evaluate pumpkin seed oil from a nutritional point of view. The oil obtained from the seed could be used as a preservative and as a functional ingredient in different areas, e.g., cosmetics, foods, and nutraceuticals.

Keywords: alcohols; fatty acids; pumpkin seed oil; stereospecific analysis; sterols.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scheme of the procedure used for stereospecific analysis of TAG from pumpkin (C. maxima, var. Berrettina) seed oil. HRGC: high-resolution gas chromatography; FAME: fatty acid methyl esters; TAG: triacylglycerol; sn-2-MAG: sn-2-monoacylglycerols; PA: phosphatidic acids; TLC: thin layer chromatography; DAG: diacylglycerol; DAGK: diacylglycerol kinase.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Characteristic high-resolution gas chromatography (HRGC) profiles of pumpkin (C. maxima, var. Berrettina) seed oil samples. (a) Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) of TAG fraction; (b) FAME of monoacylglycerol (MAG) fraction; (c) FAME of PA fraction. 1. Myristic acid, 2. Palmitic acid, 3. Palmitoleic acid, 4. Margaric acid, 5. Heptadecenoic acid, 6. Stearic acid, 7. Oleic acid, 8. Linoleic acid, 9. Linolenic acid, 10. Arachidic acid, 11. Behenic acid, 12. Eicosenoic acid, 13. Lignoceric acid.
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