Characterization of lipid fraction of Apiaceae family seed spices: Impact of species and extraction method

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of Apiaceae seeds - bitter fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. vulgare), anise (Pimpinella anisum L.) caraway (Carum carvi L.) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) as sources of high value lipophilic bioactive molecules. To evaluate the efficiency of extraction methods on seed oil yield and bioactive compounds content, seeds were extracted by both conventional methods (Soxhlet extraction and agitation-assisted extraction at room temperature) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) at 25 and 100 degrees C. Coriander was characterized by the highest yield of seed oil (12.30 %), the highest content of C18:1 fatty acids (sum of petmselinic acid and oleic acid) and the lowest content of lauric acid, while caraway seed oil contained 6.20 % of atypical capmic fatty acid. Although high levels of sterols were determined in all the seed oils analyzed, along with the dominance of stigmasteml and beta-sitosteml, total sterols were highest in anise seed oil (903.9 mg/100 g) which contained particularly high levels of spinasterol and Delta 7-stigmastenol. Significant levels of the triterpenes alpha- and beta-amyrin were also detected in all extracted seed oils. Conventional methods resulted in higher oil yields, but the highest contents of total sterols and triterpenes were obtained by PLE at 100 degrees C. The lower yields of seed oil obtained with PLE were related to the relative decrease of C18:1 acids caused by their lower extractability and the subsequent increase od lauric acid. The obtained results show that PLE can be a useful tool for modulating the content and composition of bioactive molecules in lipid extracts from Apiaceae seeds.