Supplementation of Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) Improves Lifespan and Locomotor Activity in Paraquat-Sensitive DJ-1β^Δ93 Flies, a Parkinson's Disease Model in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) is a cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) consumed by humans and other animals because of its nutritional values and pharmacological properties. Apart from high protein contents, it also contains high levels of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, such as carotenoids, β-carotene, phycocyanin, and phycocyanobilin, indicating its possible pharmaco-therapeutic utility. In the present study using DJ-1β flies, a Parkinson's disease model in Drosophila, we have demonstrated the therapeutic effect of spirulina and its active component C-phycocyanin (C-PC) in the improvement of lifespan and locomotor behavior. Our findings indicate that dietary supplementation of spirulina significantly improves the lifespan and locomotor activity of paraquat-fed DJ-1β flies. Furthermore, supplementation of spirulina and C-PC individually and independently reduced the cellular stress marked by deregulating the expression of heat shock protein 70 and Jun-N-terminal kinase signaling in DJ-1β flies. A significant decrease in superoxide dismutase and catalase activities in spirulina-fed DJ-1β flies tends to indicate the involvement of antioxidant properties associated with spirulina in the modulation of stress-induced signaling and improvement in lifespan and locomotor activity in Drosophila DJ-1β flies. Our results suggest that antioxidant boosting properties of spirulina can be used as a nutritional supplement for improving the lifespan and locomotor behavior in Parkinson's disease.

Neurotoxin-Induced Animal Models of Parkinson Disease: Pathogenic Mechanism and Assessment

“…The most acknowledged role of DJ-1 in the pathophysiology of PD is to protect neurons against oxidative stress ( Biosa et al., 2017 ), as well as to maintain mitochondrial function ( Thomas et al., 2011 ). Flies with PD-linked mutant of DJ-1 were also much more sensitive to the neurotoxicity of paraquat or rotenone and showed more severe defects in locomotor ability ( Meulener et al., 2005 ; Park et al., 2005 ; Kumar et al., 2017 ).…”

Antioxidant Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease: Insights from Drosophila melanogaster

“…As dj-1β-null flies displayed higher levels of lipid peroxidation, the authors suggested that a vitamin-E-supplemented diet might be protective for the maintenance of membrane integrity in the absence of dj-1β [87]. Among the natural compounds, food supplementation with the cyanobacteria Spirulina, known for its antioxidant properties [103,104], has been shown to improve locomotion and survival rate of dj-1β-null flies under PQ exposure [90]. Moreover, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, a polyhydroxyphenol extracted from green tea [105], has been recently reported to positively affect the locomotor ability and survival rate of dj-1β knockout flies exposed to PQ [91].…”

Cyanotherapeutics: an emerging field for future drug discovery

“…The most characterized cyanobacterial LPS is "cyanobacterial product" (CyP) from Oscillatoria planktothrix FP1 which shows a neuroprotective effect by its antagonist activity to Toll-Like Receptor (TLR)-4 (Gemma, Molteni, & Rossetti, 2016;Molteni, Bosi, & Rossetti, 2018). A report from our group demonstrated that dietary supplementation by Spirulina improved locomotor activity and increased the lifespan in paraquat (herbicide) sensitive DJ-1β Δ93 flies (Parkinson's disease model in Drosophila) (Kumar, Christian, Panchal, Guruprasad, & Tiwari, 2017). Down the line, other studies from our group have also shown the neuroprotective activity of Spirulina using Drosophila models of Alzheimer's disease (Authors' unpublished data).…”

“…• Anti-oxidant, anticancer (Cardozo et al, 2007;Kumar et al, 2017;Prasanna et al, 2010) application of cyanobacteria for health benefits under the new term "cyanotherapeutics".…”