Fatty acid analysis and regulatory effects of citron (Citrus junos Sieb. ex TANAKA) seed oil on nitric oxide production, lipid accumulation, and leptin secretion / 한국영양학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Citron seed oil (CSO) has been reported to have high antioxidant activity. However, the composition and other biologically activities of CSO have not been reported. In this study, we confirmed the fatty acid composition of CSO, which may be beneficial to vascular disease and obesity. METHODS: We investigated the oil composition of CSO using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, and cytotoxicity was confirmed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Nitric oxide (NO) production in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was measured using Griess reagent, and lipid accumulation and leptin secretion in 3T3-L1 cells were measured by Oil-Red O staining and commercial ELISA kit, respectively. RESULTS: GC-MS analysis indicated that CSO contains several components, including linoleic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, linolenic acid, palmitoleic acid, and arachidic acid. In physiological activity analysis, CSO did not induce cytotoxic effects in HUVECs and 3T3-L1 cells. Further, CSO significantly induced nitric oxide and leptin secretion as well as inhibited lipid accumulation. CONCLUSION: CSO increased NO release, inhibited lipid accumulation, and induced leptin secretion, suggesting it may be useful for the management of vessels and weight gain. Although further studies are required to investigate the safety and mechanism of action of CSO, our results show that the composition and physiological activity of CSO are sufficient for its use as functional edible oil.