Pine Bark Oil

Specifications

Pine oil is an essential oil obtained by the steam distillation of needles, twigs and cones from a variety of species of pine, particularly Pinus sylvestris.

It is used in aromatherapy, as a scent in bath oils, as a cleaning product, and as a lubricant in small and expensive clockwork instruments. It is naturally deodorizing, and antibacterial. It may also be used varyingly as a disinfectant, massage oil and an antiseptic. Pine bark are promising bioactive sources of plant phenolics selected from among ca. 100 previously screened plant materials for in vitro preclinical evaluation of health related effects. Phenolic extracts and isolated fractions of the selected materials were investigated for antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, and antimutagenic properties as well as for cell permeability. It was shown that rapeseed and pine bark phenolics and raspberry anthocyanins were good or excellent antioxidants toward oxidation of phosphatidylcholine membrane (liposomes), rapeseed oil (crude) phenolics were effective radical scavengers (DPPH test), and both raspberry and pine bark phenolics inhibited LDL oxidation. Rapeseed oil phenolics, principally vinylsyringol, raspberry anthocyanins, and pinoresinol and matairesinol, the principal components of pine bark phenolic isolate, were effective against formation of the proinflammatory mediator, prostaglandin E₂. Raspberry ellagitannins inhibited the growth of Proteus mirabilis andKlebsiella oxytoca. Pine bark and rapeseed had minor effects on the permeability of model drugs in Caco-2 experiments. None of the tested extracts were mutagenic nor toxic to Caco-2 cells or macrophages. Thus, phenolic isolates from rapeseed, raspberry, and pine bark and are safe and bioactive for possible food applications including functional foods intended for health benefit.