In Vitro Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Sour Cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) Seed Oil and Computational Safety Profiling

This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of sour cherry seed oils, including samples obtained by Soxhlet extraction and maceration, as well as ten commercial samples. The results demonstrated that the 15-lipoxygenase inhibitory activity of the oil samples ranged from 6% to 80%. Regarding cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition, while most samples showed negligible activity, the oil produced by Soxhlet extraction inhibited COX-1 and COX-2 by 38% and 32%, respectively. Similarly, the oil obtained via maceration showed inhibition rates of 25% and 23% for COX-1 and COX-2, respectively. In the trypsin inhibition assay, the Soxhlet-extracted and macerated oils exhibited 42% and 25% inhibition, respectively. Two market-supplied samples also showed considerable trypsin inhibitory activity, at 39% and 35%. In contrast, none of the sour cherry seed oil samples had a significant effect on chymotrypsin. Gas chromatography with flame ionization detection analysis revealed that linoleic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid were the major fatty acid components in all oil samples. Additionally, in silico ADMET profiling and molecular docking studies of the major fatty acids revealed favorable predicted safety profiles and strong binding affinities against the target enzymes, which, alongside the observed in vitro inhibitions, support its potential for further development.