Spirulina platensis effects on the levels of total cholesterol, HDL and triacylglycerols in rabbits fed with a hypercholesterolemic diet

Abstract

In this work, hypercholesterolemia was induced in rabbits by feeding them a high cholesterol diet (CD, 350 mg/d) and the effects of supplementing this diet with 0.5 g/d Spirulina platensis was evaluated by measuring the levels of serum total-cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerols (TAG) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL-cholesterol)

Lactic acid fermentation of Arthrospira platensis (spirulina) biomass for probiotic-based products

“…Arthrospira also contains high levels of vitamins, minerals (particularly iron), essential fatty acids (particularly γ-linolenic acid), carotenoids and chlorophyll (Ghaeni et al 2014), and a number of unexplored bioactive compounds (Kulshreshtha et al 2008;Tredici et al 2009;Chacón-Lee and González-Mariño 2010;Soheili and Khosravi-Darani 2011). Arthrospira has potent antioxidant activity due to the presence of polyphenols and phycocyanin (Liu et al 2011) and also shows interesting lipid-lowering effects (Colla et al 2008;Bigagli et al 2017). Arthrospira nutritional properties could be improved through lactic acid fermentation, which could increase digestibility of the biomass and availability of nutritious substances, besides providing probiotic bacteria.…”

Spirulina as a functional ingredient in broiler chicken diets

“…Recently, the effects of spirulina supplementation on animal performance and quality of animal products have been examined in the diets of dairy cows (Simkus et al, 2007;Christaki et al, 2012), fattening lambs (EL-Sabagh et al, 2014), rabbits (Colla et al, 2008;Peiretti & Meineri, 2008;Gerencser et al, 2014), common carp (Abdulrahman & Hamad Ameed, 2014), pigs (Grinsteal et al, 2000), laying hens (Carrillo et al, 2008;Maries et al, 2012;Zahroojian et al, 2013) and broilers (Ross & Dominy, 1990;Toyomizu et al, 2001;Alvarenga et al, 2011;Bellof & Alarcon, 2013). Nevertheless, published data could not be found on the effects of dietary spirulina on chicken meat oxidative stability and fatty acid profile.…”

Antioxidant effect of phycocyanin on oxidative stress induced with monosodium glutamate in rats

“…There is growing concern on the use of the synthetic antioxidants due to the harmful effects caused by their high doses, low solubility and toxic effects (Duran, 1993;Galvão, 2008). The use of natural antioxidants and dietary supplements have been the object of many studies, with several reports that the phenolic compounds not only increase the food shelf-life, but also act as antioxidants in many biological systems (Milié et al, 1998;Estrada et al, 2001;Colla, 2008;Bertolin, 2009). Spirulina (Arthrospira) has been studied extensively not only due to its potential as protein source, but also due to its therapeutic potential in several areas, including the ability to prevent and inhibit the cancer, reduce the blood cholesterol, stimulate the immunological system, reduce the renal toxicity of pharmaceutical products and toxic metals, promote protection against the damage generated by radiation and the damage caused by oxidative stress (Belay, 2002;Bertolin, 2009)…”

“…In Brazil, ANVISA (National Agency of Sanitary Vigilance) allows its commercialization as long as the final product where the microorganism is be added is properly registered (Brasil, 2008). Spirulina contains carotenoid, especially betacarotene and zeaxanthin, besides the phycocyanin (Estrada et al, 2001) and phenolic compounds (Colla et al, 2008), which are known for their antioxidant activity. The phycocyanin and allophycocyanin are the pigments that can be found in thylakoids of cyanobacteria, such as S. platensis, and are studied due to their ability to react with reactive substances generated during the oxidative process (Estrada, 2001).…”