Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Pistacia Atlantica Subsp. Kurdica from Awraman

Pistacia atlantica subsp. kurdica is an important food source and a well-known medicinal plant in Zagros Mountains of Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate phytochemical composition and biological activity of P. atlantica hulls. The phenolics profile of P. atlantica hulls extract was analyzed using the Reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography equipped with photodiode array detector (RP-HPLC-PDA) and the chemical composition of essential oil was determined using the Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Gas Chromatography – Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). The total phenolic and total flavonoid contents of hydro-alcoholic extract of P. atlantica hulls were measured by Folin–Ciocalteu and aluminium chloride colorimetric methods, respectively. The antioxidant activity of hydro-alcoholic extract was studied by using 2,2-diphenyl,1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Quantitative HPLC analysis indicated that ferulic acid, quercetin and naringenin are the main phenolic compounds in plant extract. In total, 55 compounds were identified and the main identified compounds of the essential oil were α-pinene and bornyl acetate. The hydro-alcoholic extract showed moderate antioxidant activity with IC50 =75 μg ml-1. The total phenolic content of extract was 15.9 mg gallic acid equivalents/g dry weight, and the total flavonoid content of extract was 28 mg quercetin /g dry weight. The data of this study suggests that P. atlantica has potential for application as an antioxidant agent in pharmaceutical and food industries.