Abstract:

The fatty acid composition of peony seed oils from different regions was analyzed and evaluated, which would
be of great significance for the selection of the most appropriate cultivated field and geoherbalism study for peony seed oil
production. Supercritical CO2 extraction was applied to extract peony seed oil from the ‘Fengdan’ cutivar (Paeonia ostii)
from seven regions. The fatty acid composition was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and
quantified with an internal standard method. The results revealed that peony seed oil was rich in unsaturated fatty acids,
including linolenic acid, linoleic acid and oleic acid. There were significant differences in the total content of fatty acids
among peony seed oils from different regions, ranging from 77.33 to 97.38 g/100 g crude oil. Peony seed oil from Binxian
county of Northwest China’s Shaanxi province showed the highest total fatty acid content. Meanwhile, obvious differences
in the individual contents of fatty acids existed across different regions. The linolenic acid content of peony seed oils from
Binxian and Fengxian, another county of Shaanxi province (38.25 and 37.50 g/100 g crude oil, respectively) was higher than
that from Tongling region of South China’s Anhui province, and the linoleic acid content of peony seed oil from Xunyang
county of Shaanxi province (30.62 g/100 g crude oil) was also distinctly higher than that of other producing areas. Correlation
analysis indicated the content of linoleic acid was negatively correlated to other fatty acids. In addition, a significant correlation was
observed between the total content of fatty acids and the contents of linolenic acid and oleic acid. In conclusion, we should consider
the difference of oil quality among different regions in regard of the production of peony seed oil.

Key words: peony seed oil, internal standard method, fatty acids, quantitative analysis