EXTRACTION OF PECAN NUT (Carya illinoinensis) OIL USING DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES AND ITS ANTITUMOR POTENTIAL IN HUMAN CANCER CELLS

Abstract Antineoplastic potential in human breast adenocarcinoma, cervical cancer cells and cytotoxicity in non-tumoral cells was assessed using Pecan nut (Carya illinoinensis L.) oil. The global yield of Pecan oil extracted by Goldfish method (GD) ranged from 23.53% (1 h) to 47.73% (6 h) whereas than by pressurized ethanol extraction (PEE) and pressurized propane extraction (PPE) it was obtained a maximum global yield of 32.43% and 54.79%, during 40 min, respectively. Chromatographic profiles indicated the presence of palmitic, stearic, oleic (main compound), linoleic, linolenic, caproic and arachidic acids. Cervical squamous cancer cells (SiHa), breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and non-tumoral immortalized human keratinocytes (HaCat) were treated with different concentrations of oils by 24 hours and cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The extracts obtained from Goldfish method showed the best results for the treatment of cervical cancer cells (IC50 of 16.46 μg.mL-1 and selectivity index of 0.75).