A potent anti-ageing and immunomodulatory activity of apricot seed standardized extract and its major compound; amygdalin

Abstract

Ageing is an expected problem that affects the skin of all mammals and could be avoided by herbal protection. Therefore, our study was done to determine anti-ageing and immunomodulatory effect of apricot seed standardized extract and its major compound; amygdalin. The dried powder was extracted using 70% ethanol (3 × 1.5 L) by an Ultra-Turrax® T25 homogenizer, then the extract was investigated for its anti-ageing and immunomodulatory activity. In-vitro anti-cyclooxygenases (COX-1, COX-2), anti-collagenase, anti-elastase and immunomodulatory activities (lymphocyte proliferation and phagocytic activity) were done using standard methods. The results revealed that the apricot seed 70% ethanol extract showed a promising activity as anti-ageing by collagenase and elastase enzyme inhibition assays (IC50 was 44.29 ± 1.7 µg/mL and 37.23 ± 0.96 µg/mL, respectively). While, amygdalin had a potent activity as collagenase and elastase inhibitor (21.70 ± 0.92 µg/mL and 17.78 ± 1.3 µg/mL, respectively) which was better than the standard drug EGCG (IC50 was 24.7 ± 1.6 μg/mL and 18.2 ± 1.5 μg/mL, respectively). Immunostimulant results for apricot seed 70% ethanol extract and amygdalin increased in gradient concentration with valuable effects. Standardization of extract using HPLC analysis and amygdalin as marker was done where its content was 5.72 g/100 g extract. Vitamin E was estimated as 0.1052 mg/g dry powder of apricot seed and this revealed its nutritive importance. In conclusion, we recommended the use of apricot seed extract or amygdalin as therapeutic adjuvant in skin creams for prevention of skin ageing.