Antioxidant activity of the microalga Spirulina maxima

Abstract

Spirulina maxima, which is used as a food additive, is a microalga rich in protein and other essential nutrients. Spirulina contains phenolic acids, tocopherols and ß-carotene which are known to exhibit antioxidant properties. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of a Spirulina extract. The antioxidant activity of a methanolic extract of Spirulina was determined in vitro and in vivo. The in vitro antioxidant capacity was tested on a brain homogenate incubated with and without the extract at 37 o C. The IC 50 (concentration which causes a 50% reduction of oxidation) of the extract in this system was 0.18 mg/ml. The in vivo antioxidant capacity was evaluated in plasma and liver of animals receiving a daily dose of 5 mg for 2 and 7 weeks. Plasma antioxidant capacity was measured in brain homogenate incubated for 1 h at 37 o C. The production of oxidized compounds in liver after 2 h of incubation at 37 o C was measured in terms of thiobarbituric acid reactant substances (TBARS) in control and experimental groups. Upon treatment, the antioxidant capacity of plasma was 71% for the experimental group and 54% for the control group. Data from liver spontaneous peroxidation studies were not significantly different between groups. The amounts of phenolic acids, α-tocopherol and ß-carotene were determined in Spirulina extracts. The results obtained indicate that Spirulina provides some antioxidant protection for both in vitro and in vivo systems.

Antioxidant properties of Spirulina (Arthospira) platensis cultivated under different temperatures and nitrogen regimes

“…The antioxidant potentials of the extracts obtained from S. platensis grown under these conditions were 29 and 35% for the medium containing 1.875 g.L -1 and 2.5 g.L -1 of sodium nitrate (Table 2), respectively. According to Miranda et al (1998), the main phenolic compounds found in Spirulina were salicylic, trans-cinnamic, synaptic, chlorogenic, quimic and caffeic acids. However, the metabolic pathways for the formation of these compounds in cyanobacteria and their importance were still unknown.…”

“…Phenolic compounds have been extensively studied for their antioxidant properties not only in fruits and vegetables (Amaral et al, 1995;Frankel et al, 1995;Yen and Chen, 1995;Yoshino and Murakami, 1998;Duval and Shetty, 2001) but also in cyanobacteria. For example, Miranda et al (1998) studied the antioxidant activity of carotenoids, phenolics and tocopherols extracted from S.maxima and found that the phenolic compounds responsible for the antioxidant properties of the S. maxima extracts were organic acids (caffeic, chlorogenic, quimic, salicylic, synaptic and trans-cinnamic) which acted individually or synergistically, while Estrada et al (2001) demonstrated the antioxidant activity of the phycobiliproteins phycocyanin and alophycocyanin present in Spirulina biomass. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of the temperature and nitrogen concentration on the production of phenolics by Arthospira platensis and to assess the antioxidant activity of these phenolics based on their capacity to prevent peroxidase-induced browning of guayacol.…”

Effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Spirulina platensis on Growth Performances and Biochemical Parameters in Rabbits

“…platensis is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and phycocyanin [22][23][24] . Some researchers [31,50,51] reported that the polyunsaturated fatty acids in S. platensis help to reduce serum lipid profiles.…”

“…platensis is a microscopic filamentous alga, which contains several vitamins, especially vitamin B 12 and provitamin A (beta-carotene). Also, it is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, phycocyanin [22,23] and phenolic compounds [24] . Over the years, many dietary supplements of S. platensis have a widespread use.…”

“…S. platensis has been approved as a health food by the World Health Organization (WHO) and it will become one of the most alternative treatments in the 21 st century [25,26] . Researchers have reported the effects of S. platensis on blood protein and lipid content [23,27,28] , and their antioxidant, antiviral and immunmodulator activities [24,29,30] in animals. According to some researchers, S. platensis and its extract may decrease the blood lipid values.…”