Characterization of lipid extracts from the Hermetia illucens larvae and their bioactivities for potential use as pharmaceutical and cosmetic ingredients
There is an increasingly growing demand for the use of natural and sustainable bioactives in the field of the
pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. The biomass from black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) can be
viewed as an innovative source of compounds with high aggregate value and marketing potential due to the
sustainable organic matter bioconversion process used as substrate for its development. This insect can be a source
of lipid compounds with high added value, mainly due to its high content in fatty acids (FA) with potential
applicability in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. In this context, in this work different extraction
methods were tested (decoction, microwaves, maceration and ultrasound), using water, acetone, n-hexane as
extraction solvents, to evaluate yields of the BSF larvae lipid extracts, as well as their lipid profile, and a pre-
liminary safety screening was conducted. Results show that despite using different extraction techniques and
solvents, similar FA composition profiles were obtained. The lauric acid content (C12: 0) is elevated in all the
extracts in relation to the other FA, ranging 37%–62%. The contents in palmitic (C16: 0) and oleic (C18: 1n-9)
acids, were also high in all applied extraction methods. The omega-6 FA (ω-6 PUFAs), mainly linoleic acid
(C18: 2n6c), were also identified in the lipid fraction of BSF larvae biomass, with a content variation between
4.5% and 17.7%, while the omega-3 group, namely α-Linolenic acid (C18: 3n3), presented values between 0.66%
and 1.95%. None of the extracts presented toxicity in preliminary tests with the Artemia salina model. Through
this study, it was possible to confirm that BSF larvae oil can be obtained by sustainable methods, containing a
broad mixture of FA and being highly rich in lauric acid, with a promising skin care applicability.
This work was supported by national funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under the UIDB/04567/2020 and UIDP/04567/2020 projects attributed to CBIOS, and UIDB/00690/2020 to CIMO and by the PhD grant attributed to C.A. (UI/BD/151423/2021). National funding by FCT, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for the contracts of A. Fernandes and L. Barros. Additionally, the authors would like to acknowledge funding of the projects ENTOVALOR (POCI-01-0247-FEDER294 017675/ 2016–2019) and NETA (POCI-01-0247-046959).
