Compositions of fatty acids and phytosterols of plant-based oils and their associations with anti-oxidative capacity: Application of principal component analysis

Complete fatty acid profile and major phytosterols of nearly all commercially available vegetable oils, obtained from local grocery stores in South Korea, were analyzed (n = 15). Subsequently, the contribution of specific oil components to antioxidative effects, measured using conventional 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2’,7’-dichlorofluorescindiacetate (DCF-DA) assays, was assessed via principal component analysis (PCA). The rat pheochromocytoma cell line was used for the DCF-DA analysis. One of the phytosterols (i.e., β-sitosterol) was positively correlated with DPPH and negatively correlated with the intracellular oxidative levels of neuronal cells, measured by DCF-DA. In addition, through the comparison between loading plot and score plot, groups of oils with similar properties were identified and their associations and unforeseen factors were elucidated by virtue of PCA. Taken together, the results herein suggest that the combination of chromatographic analysis and multivariate analysis could be a useful method to elucidate the role of responsible nutrients as well as associated similarities (or dissimilarities) of sample characteristics in biological outcomes.