Bioactive Compounds and Related Food-Medicine Homology Potential of Prinsepia utilis Seed Oil

The seed oil of Prinsepia utilis is a traditional food-medicine homology used by the Naxi people in Yunnan Province of the Himalayan region. This study explored the potential applications of food-medicine homology in health and wellness. Using untargeted metabolomics, we compared the metabolite profiles of the subcritical extraction method (edible oil as crude oil) (CO) and its improved processing method (medicinal oil as refined oil) (RO) extracted from P. utilis seeds by UPLC-QTOF MS/MS and evaluated their in vivo and in vitro activities. We screened 14 discriminatory metabolites and performed their tentative annotation, including fatty acids, terpenoids, steroids, and quinones. Furthermore, we quantified 12 bioactive compounds in CO samples via targeted chromatographic analysis, which support the promising food-medicine homology applications of the oil. RO exhibited potent antioxidant activity (DPPH radical scavenging rate of 79.7%, representing 65.7% increase over CO), with an ABTS⁺ radical scavenging rate of 95.8% (77.1% improvement over CO). The hyaluronidase inhibition rate for RO was 43.4%, whilst that for CO was 30.8%; the elastase inhibition rate for RO was 69.8%, whilst that for CO was 59.8%, and promoted zebrafish fin regeneration by 15% at 3% concentration. Our results validated the seed oil of P. utilis as a traditional food and its antioxidants, anti-aging, demonstrating that the CO processing method is able to meet with medicine and food homology in health, and the RO processing method may satisfy skin care function. These findings highlight the potential applications of P. utilis seed oil for food-medicine homology in health and wellness properties.