Chemical Composition of the Lipophilic Fraction of Livistona australis R.Br. Mart., (Arecaceae ) Fruit Pulp and Evaluation of its Antioxidant and Antihyperlipidemic Activities

The lipophilic fraction of the dried pulp of Livistona australis palm fruits (LALF) was investigated for its chemical constituents using ga s chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Analysis of LALF revealed that oleic acid is the major fatty acid (FA) component (59.05%) and that linoleic and palmitic acids constitute 0.7 9% and 20.59%, respectively. while, the diterpene phytol component constitutes (7.98%). Quantitative HPLC analysis of LALF for its fat-soluble vitamins D3, E and A concentrations were estimated to be 303.028, 0.28850 and 72.2296 IU/g LALF, respectively. Oleic acid (OA) was isolated and purified from LALF using chromatographic techniques. Its structure was elucidated using various spectroscopic methods (UV, 1 H-NMR and EI-MS). In vivo evaluation of antioxidant and antihyperlipidemic activities of OA and LALF was carried out. LALF as well as the isolated OA showed signifi cant (P<0.05) increase in glutathione (GSH) and decrease in nitric oxide levels in CCl 4 induced oxidative stress in treated rats compared to control. LALF hypolipidemic effect had better profile compared to the standard drug (simvastatin). In addition, in-silico studies were performed to study the binding mode of oleic acid with inducible nitric ox ide synthase (iNOS) active site.