Lipid composition micronutrient and cellular antioxidant properties of borage seed oil from eight provinces in China

Abstract Borage seed oil (BSO; Borago officinalis L.) has great medicinal and nutritional potential owing to its bioactive components. In this study, we compared the lipid composition, micronutrient content, free radical scavenging capacities, and cellular antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of BSO from eight provinces in China. The Gansu sample had the highest levels of γ‐linolenic acid, accounting for 18.66%. We detected more than 17 triacylglycerols in BSO. Among micronutrients, δ‐tocopherol and Δ5‐avenasterol were the main components of tocopherol and phytosterol, respectively. The highest cellular antioxidant activity values were found in the Shanxi and Gansu samples; the concentration cytotoxicity 50% values were higher than 200 mg/mL, and the median effective dose ranged from 18.34 ± 0.52 to 70.65 ± 1.76 mg/mL. In addition, we tested the free radical scavenging capacity of BSO and found significant differences in antioxidant capacity between samples from different regions, and the Gansu sample had a better antioxidant capacity.