Evaluation of Pulp Oil from Persea Americana (Avocado Fruit) in Pharmaceutical Cream Formulation

Abstract

The cosmetic properties of pulp oil extracted from Persea americana was compared with olive oil after the extraction of oil from Persea americana pulp by cold pressed chemical method using acetone. The percentage oil content from the pulp was 12%w/w. Physiochemical, proximate and elemental analyses were carried out on the extracted oil. Which was characterized based on pH, conductivity, specific gravity and refractive index and both oils analyzed for anti- microbial activities adopting the well diffusion method and using staphloccocus aureus and pseudomonas aeruginosa as micro -organisms. The avocado pulp oil showed zone of inhibition of 1.3-1.7mm against staphylococcus aureus but no activity against gram negative pseudomonas aeruginosa while olive oil did not show any activity against both organisms. Creams formulations were carried out using the extracted avocado pulp oil, mixture of extracted avocado oil and olive oil and evaluated for pH, density, viscosity, sunscreen activity, conductivity,
centrifugation and alkali test.