SPIRULINA POWDER
Spirulina maxima pretreatment partially protects against 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine neurotoxicity
1: Nutr Neurosci. 2006 Oct-Dec;9(5-6):207-12.
Spirulina maxima pretreatment partially protects against 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine neurotoxicity.
Laboratorio de Toxicologia Preclinica, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biologicas, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Apartado Postal 314, C.P, 11520 Mexico, D.F., Mexico.
Spirulina is an alga that has a high nutritional value and some of its biological activities are attributed to the presence of antioxidants. Oxidative stress is involved in Parkinson's disease. This study aims at evaluating the neuroprotective role of Spirulina maxima (Sp.) against 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) neurotoxicity, used as a model of Parkinson's disease. Ninety-six male C-57 black mice were pretreated with Spirulina for 14 days (25, 50, 100, 150 or 200 mg/kg, oral), followed by three MPTP administrations (30 mg/kg, intraperitoneal, i.p.). Animals were given Sp. for 8 additional days. After the treatment, the striatal dopamine (DA) content was analysed by high performance liquid chromatography, and lipid peroxidation was studied as an index of oxidative stress. Sp. pretreatment at 150 mg/kg partially prevented (51%) the DA-depleting effect of MPTP and blocked oxidative stress. Spirulina partially prevents MPTP neurotoxicity and oxidative stress, suggesting it could be a possible alternative in experimental therapy.
PMID: 17263087 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Evaluation of protective efficacy of Spirulina fusiformis against mercury induced nephrotoxicity in Swiss albino mice
1: Food Chem Toxicol. 2006 Nov 23; [Epub ahead of print
Evaluation of protective efficacy of Spirulina fusiformis against mercury induced nephrotoxicity in Swiss albino mice.
Department of Zoology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur 302004, India; Department of Zoology, R.L.S. Govt. (P.G.) College, Kaladera, Jaipur 303801, India.
The toxicity of mercury to animals and man is well established and this depends greatly on the form of the mercury compounds. In most animals' species, including man, the kidney is the main site of deposition of inorganic mercury and target organ for its toxicity. In the present study Spirulina fusiformis (a cyanobacterium, belongs to family - Oscillatoriaceae) has been investigated as a possible modifier of mercury induced renal damages in Swiss albino mice. Animals were divided into four groups. (i) Control group - only vehicle (0.9% NaCl) was administered as i.p. (ii) HgCl(2) treated group - 5.0mg/kg b.wt. HgCl(2) was administered as i.p. (iii) Spirulina treated group - 800mg/kg b.wt. Spirulina extract was administered orally. (iv) Combination group -S. fusiformis was administered 10 days before mercuric chloride administration and continued upto 30 days after mercuric chloride administration (5.0mg/kg b.wt.). The animals were autopsied on 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days after treatment and the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), acid phosphatase (ACP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and MDA (malondialdehyde) level were measured in kidney homogenates. The results indicated that there was a time-dependent significant enhancement in MDA content and ACP activity and decrease in LDH and ALP activity observed after HgCl(2) treatment. Mercury intoxication also induces pathological alterations in the kidney such as degeneration of glomerulus, proximal and distal tubules. A dose-dependent mortality was also observed following administration of different doses of HgCl(2). In combined treatment of Spirulina with HgCl(2), a significant decrease in MDA content and ACP activity and elevation in LDH and ALP activity was observed as compared to HgCl(2) treated group. Spirulina pre- and post-treatment with mercury also significantly reduces pathological alterations in kidney. Thus, the results from the present study suggest that S. fusiformis can significantly modify the renal damages against mercuric chloride induced toxicity.
PMID: 17215067 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Anti-inflammatory effect of Spirulina fusiformis on adjuvant-induced arthritis in mice
1: Biol Pharm Bull. 2006 Dec;29(12):2483-7.
Anti-inflammatory effect of Spirulina fusiformis on adjuvant-induced arthritis in mice.
School of Bio-engineering and Biosciences, Vellore Institute of Technology, Deemed University, Tamilnadu, India. mkr474@rediffmail.com
The present study was carried out to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of Spirulina fusiformis on adjuvant-induced arthritis in mice. Arthritis was induced by intra dermal injection of complete freund's adjuvant (0.1 ml) into the right hind paw of Swiss albino mice. Spirulina fusiformis (800 mg/kg/b.wt) was orally administered for 8 d (from 11th to 18th day) to arthritic animals after adjuvant injection. The anti-inflammatory activity of Spirulina fusiformis was assessed by measuring paw volume, body weight, levels of lysosomal enzymes, tissue marker enzymes and glycoproteins in control and experimental animals. In adjuvant-induced arthritic animals, the levels of lysosomal enzymes, tissue marker enzymes, glycoproteins and the paw volume were increased significantly. However the body weight was found to be reduced when compared to control animals. Oral administration of Spirulina fusiformis (800 mg/kg/b.wt) significantly altered these above physical and biochemical changes observed in arthritic animals to near normal conditions. Hence results of this study clearly indicate that Spirulina fusiformis has promising anti-inflammatory activity against adjuvant-induced arthritic animals.
PMID: 17142986 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Preventive effects of Spirulina platensis on skeletal muscle damage under exercise-induced oxidative stress
1: Eur J Appl Physiol. 2006 Sep;98(2):220-6. Epub 2006 Aug 30.
Preventive effects of Spirulina platensis on skeletal muscle damage under exercise-induced oxidative stress.
Sport Science Research Center, National Taiwan College of Physical Education, Taichung, Taiwan. hklu@ntcpe.edu.tw
The effects of spirulina supplementation on preventing skeletal muscle damage on untrained human beings were examined. Sixteen students volunteered to take Spirulina platensis in addition to their normal diet for 3-weeks. Blood samples were taken after finishing the Bruce incremental treadmill exercise before and after treatment. The results showed that plasma concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly decreased after supplementation with spirulina (P < 0.05). The activity of blood superoxide dismutase (SOD) was significantly raised after supplementation with spirulina or soy protein (P < 0.05). Both of the blood glutathione peroxidaes (GPx) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were significantly different between spirulina and soy protein supplementation by an ANCOVA analysis (P < 0.05). In addition, the lactate (LA) concentration was higher and the time to exhaustion (TE) was significantly extended in the spirulina trail (P < 0.05). These results suggest that ingestion of S. platensis showed preventive effect of the skeletal muscle damage and that probably led to postponement of the time of exhaustion during the all-out exercise.
PMID: 16944194 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Efficacy of spirulina extract plus zinc in patients of chronic arsenic poisoning: a randomized placebo-controlled study
: Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2006;44(2):135-41.
Efficacy of spirulina extract plus zinc in patients of chronic arsenic poisoning: a randomized placebo-controlled study.
Department of Pharmacology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. mmisbah@aitlbd.net
BACKGROUND: Millions of people in Bangladesh, India, Taiwan, and Chile are consuming high concentration of arsenic through drinking water, and thousands of them have already developed chronic arsenic poisoning. There is no specific treatment. Some authors suggest the use of vitamins and minerals for more than 6 months. The present placebo-controlled double-blind study was conducted to evaluate effectiveness of spirulina extract plus zinc in the treatment of chronic arsenic poisoning. METHODS: Forty-one patients of chronic arsenic poisoning were randomly treated orally by either placebo (17 patients) or spirulina extract (250 mg) plus zinc (2 mg) (24 patients) twice daily for 16 weeks. Each patient was supplied with arsenic-safe drinking water by installing a locally made water filter at household level. Effectiveness of spirulina extract plus zinc was evaluated by comparing changes in skin manifestations (clinical scores), arsenic contents in urine and hair, between the placebo- and spirulina extract plus zinc-treated groups. RESULTS: The concentrations of total arsenic in water (without filtration) of placebo- and spirulina extract plus zinc-treated groups were 150.1 +/- 18.3 and 161.7 +/- 23.9 microg/l, respectively. Intake of these high concentrations of arsenic lead to increased excretion of arsenic in urine (72.1 +/- 14.5 microg/l in placebo-treated group and 78.4 +/- 19.1 microg/l in spirulina plus zinc-treated group). After 2 weeks of using filtered water, there were significant reduction of both arsenic intake through water and urinary arsenic excretion (8.3 +/- 3.6 microg/l and 18.4 +/- 7.3 microg/l in placebo group; 9.7 +/- 5.4 microg/l and 21.6 +/- 5.8 microg/l) in spirulina extract plus zinc-treated group. There was a sharp increase in urinary excretion of arsenic (138 +/- 43.6 microg/l) at 4 weeks following spirulina plus zinc administration and the effect was continued for another 2 weeks. Spirulina extract plus zinc removed 47.1% arsenic from scalp hair. Spirulina extract had no major adverse effect that required physician's attention. The clinical scores (median) for melanosis before and after treatment with placebo was not statistically significant (p > 0.05), whereas in spirulina extract plus zinc-treated group it was statistically significant (p < 0.01). In cases of keratosis, the median clinical scores before and after treatment was not statistically significant (p > 0.05) in placebo-treated group. In spirulina extract plus zinc-treated group, the clinical scores for keratosis before and after treatment was statistically significant (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Results show that spirulina extract (250 mg) plus zinc (2 mg) twice daily for 16 weeks may be useful for the treatment of chronic arsenic poisoning with melanosis and keratosis.
PMID: 16615668 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Protective effect of Spirulina against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity
: Phytother Res. 2005 Dec;19(12):1030-7.
Protective effect of Spirulina against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.
Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, India.
The generation of reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity. The aim of the present study was to determine whether Spirulina, a blue-green algae, could serve as a cardioprotective agent during DOX treatment in a mouse model. Mice were treated with DOX (4 mg/kg bw, intraperitoneally), weekly, for 4 weeks. Spirulina was administered orally for 3 days twice daily, then for 7 weeks along with the four equal injections of DOX. Cardiotoxicity was assessed, at 3 weeks after the end of the DOX-treatment period, by mortality, volume of ascites, liver congestion, oxidative stress and ultrastructural changes of heart tissue. The DOX-treated animals showed higher mortality (53%) and more ascites. Myocardial damage, as assessed by ultrastructural changes, showed loss of myofibrils, cytoplasmic vacuolization and mitochondrial swelling. Myocardial superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities were decreased and lipid peroxidation was increased. Pretreatment with Spirulina significantly protected the mice from DOX-induced cardiotoxic effects as evidenced from lower mortality (26%), less ascites, lower levels of lipid peroxidation, normalization of antioxidant enzymes and ultrastructural studies showing minimal damage to the heart. In vitro cytotoxic studies using ovarian cancer cells demonstrated that Spirulina did not compromise the anti-tumor activity of doxorubicin. These results suggest that Spirulina has a protective effect against cardiotoxicity induced by DOX and it may, therefore, improve the therapeutic index of DOX. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PMID: 16372368 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Nutritional and therapeutic potential of Spirulina
1: Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2005 Oct;6(5):373-9.
Nutritional and therapeutic potential of Spirulina.
Department of Biotechnology, J.C. Bose Institute of Life Sciences, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi 284128, U.P., India.
Spirulina, a filamentous cyanobacterium, possesses diverse biological activities and nutritional significance due to high concentration of natural nutrients, having bio-modulatory and immuno-modulatory functions. Different Spirulina preparations influence immune system viz. increase phagocytic activity of macrophages, stimulating the production of antibodies and cytokines, increase accumulation of NK cells into tissue and activation and mobilization of T and B cells. Spirulina have also shown to perform regulatory role on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism by exhibiting glucose and lipid profile correcting activity in experimental animals and in diabetic patients. Preparations have been found to be active against several enveloped viruses including herpes virus, cytomegalovirus, influenza virus and HIV. They are capable to inhibit carcinogenesis due to anti-oxidant properties that protect tissues and also reduce toxicity of liver, kidney and testes.
PMID: 16248810 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
