Obtention, characterization and cytotoxicity of fixed oils from Elaeocarpus serratus: a remarkable vegetable oil

The specie Elaeocarpus serratus belonging to the Elaeocarpaceae family is popularly known as Ceylon Olive and used medicinally for the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections. The fruits contain tannins and fatty acids in fixed oils (FO). The specie adapts well to the conditions of the soil and climate of Brazil and, due to the good productivity of fruits that the plant presents, it shows potential in the production of FO. Despite its uses, there are no studies that provide more details on the characterization and obtaining of oils from this species. The objective of this study was aimed to characterize the obtention and properties of the oil seed to verify the yield and the potential use. The FOs were obtained by the Soxhlet extraction method and analyzed through the parameters refractive, acidity and saponification indexes. From the FOs obtained, the seeds resulted in the highest yield (1.71%), followed by pericarps with seeds (1.01%) and pericarps (0.49%). The FOs were submitted to the lethality test of Artemia saline as a predictor of cytotoxicity, obtaining percentages of lethality of 76% for seed oil. The high cytotoxicity shown by the OFs corroborates with the antimicrobial and antifungal uses of the species and the indexes tested showed that the oil obtained from the seed demonstrates potential application in products with industrial, cosmetic and pharmaceutical interests.