applied sciences  
Article  
Antimicrobial Properties, Cytotoxic Effects, and Fatty Acids Composition of Vegetable Oils from Purslane, Llineed, Luffa, and Pumpkin Seeds  
[PERSON] 1,*,*, [PERSON] 2,*, [PERSON] 2,*, [PERSON] 3,*, [PERSON] 4, [PERSON] 4,*, [PERSON] 2 and [PERSON] 2,*,*  
Laboratory of Vegetable Production, Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Fytokou Street, N. Ionia, 384 46 Volos, Greece  
Centro de Investigacao de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politecnico de Bragna, Campus de Santa Apolonia, 5300-253 Braganca, Portugal; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.F.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (R.C.C.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (I.C.F.R.F.)  
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Napsles Federico II, Via Universita 100, 80055 Portci, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
Institute for Biological Research \"[PERSON]\"--National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Baleva [PERSON] 142, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (J.P.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (M.S.)  
Correspondence: [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.A.P.); [PERSON]ADDRESS] (L.B.); Tel.: +30-242-109-3196 (S.A.P.); +351-273-330-901 (L.B)  
Featured Application: Vegetable oils are a rich source of fatty acids and bioactive compounds with numerous beneficial effects to human health. The presented results showed that seed oils of linseed, purslane, luffa, and pumpkin have significant antimicrobial properties that could find application in the food industry as functional ingredients or as non-synthetic antimicrobial agents in the design of new healthy food products. Moreover, they could be used in mixtures with other oils to design new vegetable oils with functional properties and enhance content in omega-3 fatty acids.  
In the present study, the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities, as well as the fatty acids composition in vegetable seed oils from linseed, purslane, luffa, and pumpkin were evaluated. For this purpose, two linseed oils and one luffa oil were commercially obtained, while purslane and pumpkin oils were obtained from own cultivated seeds. The results showed a variable fatty acids composition among the tested oils, with \(\alpha\)-lionelenic, linoleic, oleic, palmitic, and stearic acid being the most abundant compounds. In regards to particular oils, linseed oils were a rich source of \(\alpha\)-lionelenic acid, luffa and pumpkin oil were abundant in linoleic acid, while purslane oil presented a balanced composition with an almost similar amount of both fatty acids. Luffa oil was the most effective against two of the tested cancer cell lines, namely HeLa (crystal carcinoma) and NCI-H460 (non-small cell lung cancer), while it also showed moderate toxicity against non-tumor cells (PLP2 cell line). Regarding the antibacterial activity, linseed oil 3 and pumpkin oil showed the highest activity against most of the tested bacteria (especially against _Enterobacter clacae_ and _Escherichia coli_) with MIC and MBC values similar to the used positive controls (E211 and E224). All the tested oils showed significant antifungal activities, especially luffa and pumpkin oil, and for most of the tested fungi they were more effective than the positive controls, as for example in the case of _Aspergillus versicolor_, _A. niger_, and _Penicillium verucosum_ var. _cyclopium_. In conclusion, the results of our study showed promising antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties for the studied seed oils which could be partly attributed to their fatty acids composition, especially the long-chain ones with 12-18 carbons.  
seed oils; antibacterial properties; cytotoxicity; antifungal properties; omega-3 fatty acids; omega-6 fatty acids; antitumor activities; _Portulaca oleraca_ L.; _Luffa aegyptia_ Mill.; _Cucurbita maxima_ L; _Linum usitalissimum_ L.