Background: Plant essential oils and phenolic compounds are widely used for their medicinal properties. Thus, the\naim of this study is to evaluate the nutritional values, the chemical composition, antioxidant activity and anti-hemolytic\neffects of Pittosporum tobira seeds.\nMethods: The aroma compounds were isolated using two methods (Headspace-solid phase microextraction\n(HS-SPME) and hydrodistillation (HD)) and analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry\n(GC-MS). Bioactive phenolic compounds were identified by mean of high-performance liquid chromatography\n(HPLC-DAD). Reducing power, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) scavenging and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)\nradical scavenging assays were used to investigate antioxidant activity. Anti-hemolytic activity was evaluated\nusing H2O2-induced hemolysis of red blood cells (RBC).\nResults: Oxygenated sesquiterpenes, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated monoterpenes were the\nmost volatile fractions identified by HD and HS-SPME coupled to GC-MS but their quality and amount were\nquite different according to the extraction methodology. The main phenolic compounds identified by HPLC\nwere caffeic acid, followed by cinnamic acid and gallic acid. P. tobira seeds essential oils showed significant\nantioxidant activity in DPPH (IC50 value = 1.5 mg/mL), H2O2 scavenging assay (IC50 value = 159.43 �¼g/mL)\nand reducing power test (IC50 value = 0.982 mg/mL) compared to methanolic extract. Moreover, the results\nrevealed that the essential oil was able to protect RBC from hemolysis induced by H2O2. However, the\nmethanolic extract had no effect on H2O2-induced hemolysis of RBC as compared to the essential oil and\nthe standard vitamin C.\nConclusions: P. tobira may be used as a new natural source of antioxidant with therapeutic application in\ndiseases caused by reactive oxygen species.
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