• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.52 no.1
• /
• pp.49-54
• /
• 2021

As the consumption of avocado fruits and avocado oils is steadily increasing, the amount of avocado seeds which are thrown away as by-products is also inceasing. Thus, the possibility of use of avocado seeds as natural preservatives was studied focused on the antioxidant effect. The extraction of avocado seeds and seed husks with 100% ethanol by maceration showed highest antioxidant activities and lowest IC50 values compared to 80% ethanol extract. Furthermore, 100% ethanol extract of avocado seeds and seed husks included significantly higher amount of polyphenols than 80% extract. However, total flavonoid content of 100% avocado seed extract was not signigicantly different from 80% seed extract, whereas that of 100% avocado seed husk extract was significantly higher than 80% seed husk extract. In case of acid values, heating of oil alone for 120 and 180 min significantly increased the acid values, whereas the treatment of oil with seed and seed husk extract signficantly decreased the acid values. These results suggest that antioxidant effects of avocado seeds and seed husks protected the oil against heat-induced acidification. Thus, avocado seeds and seed husks have a potential to be developed as an natural antioxidant and natural preservative which could be used commercially.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.40 no.7
• /
• pp.919-927
• /
• 2011

Avocado (Persea americana Mill., Family Lauraceae) is an important subtropical crop in the Americas where it has been cultivated for several thousand years. To investigate the bioactivities of avocado, which acts on bone formation, we prepared methanol extracts from the sarcocarp, peels, and seeds of avocado. The methanol extracts of peels and seeds showed higher bone-forming activity than avocado sarcocarp extracts accompanied by MC3T3-E1 osteoblast proliferation and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. Additionally, the extracts of sarcocarp and peel from avocado also decreased tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity against differentiation of osteoclasts, derived from mouse bone marrow macrophages. The hexane fraction from avocado peels showed strong bone-forming activity accompanied by osteoblast proliferation and ALP activity (170.7${\pm}$8.4%), and the ethyl acetate fraction from avocado peel decreased TRAP activity (5.2${\pm}$0.3%) and differentiated osteoclasts at 50 ${\mu}g$/mL. Therefore, avocado is expected to be a natural source for developing medicinal agents to prevent bone-related diseases, such as osteoporosis, by increasing osteoblast differentiation and reducing osteoclast activity.