Investigation of in vitro digestibility of dietary microalga Chlorella vulgaris and cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis as a nutritional supplement

Abstract

Microalgal proteins are promising sources for functional nutrition and a sustainable candidate for nutraceutical formulations. They also gain importance due to emerging focus on a healthy nutrition and increase in the number of chronic diseases. In this study, dried dietary species of microalga, Chlorella vulgaris, and cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis were hydrolyzed with pancreatin enzyme to obtain protein hydrolysates. The hydrolysis yield of biomass was 55.1 ± 0.1 and 64.8 ± 3.6% for C. vulgaris and S. platensis; respectively. Digestibility, as an indicator for dietary utilization, was also investigated. In vitro protein digestibility (IVPD) values depicted that cell wall structure due to the taxonomical differences affected both hydrolysis and digestibility yield of the crude biomass (p < 0.05). Epithelial cells (Vero) maintained their viability around 70%, even in relatively higher concentrations of hydrolysates in the culture. The protein hydrolysates showed no any antimicrobial activities. This study clearly shows that the conventional protein sources in nutraceutical formulations such as soy, whey, and fish proteins can be replaced by enzymatic hydrolysates of microalgae, which shows elevated digestibility values as a sustainable and reliable source.

Microalgae: A Promising Source of Valuable Bioproducts

“…To destroy the cells, homogenization under pressure or enzymatic hydrolysis was used, followed by ultrafiltration/diafiltration. Kose et al [ 58 ] obtained protein hydrolysates from the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris, Chlorella cyanobacterium and Spirulina platensis and evaluated their digestibility in in vitro experiments. The studied hydrolysates showed rather high digestibility values and low cytotoxicity.…”

Microalgae as Functional Ingredients in Savory Food Products: Application to Wheat Crackers

“…Several authors have previously reported that A. platensis biomass shows 10% to 20% higher IVDMD [17,74] and up to 50% higher IVPD [32] than C. vulgaris biomass. The different IVDMD and IVPD values between A. platensis and C. vulgaris biomass are probably related to differences in cell wall structure, considering that while cyanobacteria have thin cell walls composed by peptidoglycan, green algae such as C. vulgaris have thick and rigid cellulosic cell walls [75].…”

Biofertilization With Chlorophyta and Cyanophyta: An Alternative for Organic Food Production

“…Biofertilizer products derived from algae are obtained from biosecure species, which do not produce toxins or allergens, guaranteeing in this manner, not only the safety of the operators but also of the food fertilized with these products. Because of its biological origin, biofertilizers derived from algae do not contravene any of the assumptions of organic production, and they do represent an alternative for quality production (da Silva Ferreira and Sant'Anna, 2017; Kose et al, 2017;Rossi et al, 2017).…”