Fatty acid profile of Cobra Oil and its activities on skin melanoma cells Suchitra Khunsap 1 *, Supranee Buranapraditkun 2 , Panithi Laoungbua 1 and Lawan Chanhome 1 ABSTRACT Cobra oil was used as a Thai traditional remedy to skin carefulness without scientific evidences. In this study, the oil was extracted from depot fat of Naja kaouthia; a monocled cobra by using a simple method. The oil components were detected by GC-MS which showed 30.34% of saturated fatty acid, 34.19% of mono-unsaturated fatty acid and 25.96% of polyunsaturated fatty acid. The main components were Palmitic acid (20.88%), Vaccenic acid (24.77%) and Linoleic acid (19.16%). Biological functions of Cobra oil were investigated for migration inhibition and apoptosis cell death on SK-MEL-28; human skin melanoma. Various concentrations of Cobra oils (20%, 10%, 5% and 2.5% v/v) could inhibit migration on SK-MEL-28 cells 91.43%±6.64%, 61.85%±10.61%, 26.80%±6.7% and 0% respectively. In addition, SK-MEL-28 cells which treated by Cobra oils (20%, 10%, 5% and 2.5% v/v) undergo apoptosis were detected using AnnexinV-FITC kit. The maximum oil concentration (10%) could induce 25% apoptosis in cells at 20 h and increased in concentration of oil was not increased apoptosis. Key words: Polyunsaturated fatty acid, Apoptosis, wound healing, Cobra oil, Thai herb *Corresponding author; E-mail address: sthaithumnas@yahoo.com 1 Research of Development, Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Bangkok 10330, Thailand 2 Cellular Immunology Laboratory Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit , Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. สาขาวิทยาศาสตร การประชุมวิชาการของมหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์ ครั้งที่ 53 142