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Diversity of Sterol Composition in Tunisian Pistacia lentiscus Seed Oil
Author(s) -
Mezni Faten,
Labidi Arbia,
Khouja Mohamed Larbi,
Martine Lucy,
Berdeaux Olivier,
Khaldi Abdelhamid
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemistry and biodiversity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1612-1880
pISSN - 1612-1872
DOI - 10.1002/cbdv.201500160
Subject(s) - pistacia lentiscus , phytosterol , sterol , cycloartenol , chemistry , gas chromatography , food science , chromatography , botany , mediterranean climate , cholesterol , biology , biochemistry , ecology
Pistacia lentiscus L. seed oil is used in some Mediterranean forest area for culinary and medicinal purposes. In this study, we aim to examine, for the first time, the effect of growing area on sterol content of Pistacia lentiscus seed oil. Fruits were harvested from 13 different sites located in northern and central Tunisia. Gas chromatography‐flame‐ionization detection ( GC ‐ FID ) was used to quantify sterols and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry ( GC / MS ) was used to identify them. The major sterol identified was β ‐sitosterol with a value ranging from 854.12 to 1224.09 mg/kg of oil, thus making up more than 54% of the total sterols. The other two main sterols were cycloartenol (11%) and 24‐methylene‐cycloartenol (5%). Statistical results revealed that growing location significantly ( P < 0.001) affected phytosterol levels in these oils.