Adansonia digitata and Daniella oliveri seed oils and cosmeceutical products exhibited potent pharmacological and marginal toxicity on fibroblast cells

Abstract

There is a growing demand for the use of seed oils in food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, especially in skincare and hair care products. The aim of this study was to formulate organic cosmetic products from underutilized seed oils and evaluate their pharmacological and toxicity potentials. Human foreskin fibroblast cells were used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the sample, while using staurosporine as positive control drug. Standard agar diffusion assays were utilized to assess the in vitro antimicrobial activities against a variety of organisms, such as Streptococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, S. typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium notatam, and Rhizopus stoloniler while the anti-inflammatory potential was evaluated using lipoxygenase inhibition assay. The ability of the seed oils and formulated cosmeceutical products to act as antioxidants were examined using complimentary DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assays. In addition, the anti-parasitic effect of seed oil against Toxoplasma gondii was established. The green organic medicated soaps and emollients, free of all synthetic antioxidants, preservatives, colourants, stabilizers, perfumes and antibiotics were produced. The oils and their value-added cosmetic products from the seed of A. digitata and D. oliveri yielded 29 % and 16 % product and exhibited suitable physicochemical parameters comparable to edible oils used for industrial purposes. While A. digitata oil showed the presence of 22 fatty acids with oleic acid (46.04 %) and palmitic acid (19.98 %) as most predominant with total unsaturation of 60.55 %, D. oliveri showed 12-hydroxydodecanoic acid (23.25 %) and pentadecanoic acid (21.13 %) as the most predominant with total unsaturation of 20.54 %. The presence of essential fatty acids coupled with significant antioxidants, antimicrobial and low in vitro cytotoxicity underscore the cosmeceutical prospects of the plants. Although the Emollient exhibited a slightly reduced level of inhibition towards the tested clinical pathogens with a minimum inhibitory concentration value ranging from 50 to 100 mg/mL, the products hold huge promise as purely organic formulations with significant level of antimicrobial activities comparable to the standard drugs. While further in vivo toxicological evaluations would be required, the seed oils open up a channel of research for bountiful scientific explorations.