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Nesrin Jehad Seder

Masters Abstract

Juglans   Regia,   or   walnut,   is   a   common   tree   with   high   nutritional   value   and phytochemical properties predominantly   found in different geographical   regions   around the world. In our study, we focused on the extraction efficiency of unripe fruit of J. regia in Jordan using the traditional soxhlet method and the new microwave extraction method. We used fresh and defatted unripe J.   regia  fruit   for the extraction  process  and  manifested   their  chemical constituents  and pharmacological  activities  as  antioxidant,  antimicrobial  and  wound healing activity. For the extraction of J. regia, we used five different types of solvents according to their increase in polarity to cover a wide range of phytochemical products. In addition, we examined the presence of some secondary metabolites as Tannins, Flavonoids, Saponins, and Alkaloids, as well as, we measured quantitatively the concentration of total phenols in the yield of the extraction   processes. Our results showed a higher efficiency for the   microwave extraction method over the soxhlet extraction method in terms of higher yield amount and less time and solvents consuming. Water usage as an extraction solvent has generated the highest yield amount of 1.3 g in the defatted J. regia using microwave methods, whereas, the highest concentration of total phenols was demonstrated in ethyl acetate extract of J. regia. In the antimicrobial susceptibility test, the ethyl acetate extract of J.   regia showed a significant MIC inhibition concentration of 0.85 mg/ml against S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, and S. epidermidis. Unexpectedly, we found that the healing activity of ethyl acetate extract was as good as the reference drug (Baneocin) and even the ethyl acetate had an increase of 5% (P˂ 0.05) than reference drug.  In conclusion, despite the numerous pharmacological activities of J. regia, we highly recommend further investigation on the wound healing activity of J. regia unripe fruit.