Investigation of the Effects of Chlorella vulgaris Supplementation on the Modulation of Oxidative Stress in Apparently Healthy Smokers

Abstract

Background: Smoking is among the established yet modifiable risk factors for cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and pulmonary disorders. Oxidative stress has been proposed as a key mechanism mediating the deleterious consequences of smoking. The present study evaluated the effect of supplementation with Chlorella vulgaris, a nutrient and bioactive green microalgae with proven antioxidant capacity, on the burden of oxidative stress in Iranian smokers. Methods: Thirty-eight smokers (mean age: 37.11 ± 1.69 years; females: 18.4%) were administered C. vulgaris extract (3600 mg/day) for a period of 6 weeks. Fasted serum samples collected at baseline and after the completion of study were analyzed for the concentrations of vitamin C, vitamin E, glutathione, and malonedialdehyde (MDA) as well as activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase. Total antioxidant capacity of serum was also determined by the ability of serum to inhibit the formation of ferryl myoglobin radical species. Results: Six-week supplementation with C. vulgaris extract in smokers was associated with marked elevation of all assessed serum antioxidant measures (p < 0.001) and significant reduction of MDA levels (p = 0.002). After gender segregation, a similar pattern of changes was observed for both male and female subjects apart from lack of significant change in serum vitamin E status in females. Although the magnitude of change in serum vitamin E was significantly greater in males compared to females (p = 0.014), there was no significant change in the magnitude of changes for other assessed parameters between the genders. Conclusions: Supplementation with C. vulgaris extract significantly improves antioxidant status and attenuates lipid peroxidation in chronic cigarette smokers. Hence, C. vulgaris might prevent the disease burden and mortality rate associated with smoking.

Chlorella vulgaris and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: Effective Antioxidant, Antibacterial and Anticancer Mediators

“…The study is supported by rodent model studies of Yuan and Walsh [27] which demonstrated the protective effects of dietary kelps and other red and green algae against mammary, intestinal and skin carcinogenesis. Recent studies suggest C. vulgaris as an effective natural chemotoxic agent against tumour cells by inducing apoptosis [28] . Chlorella PR1 efficiently reduced murine melanoma B16F10 cells viability by 50% with 5.5 µg/ml concentration of DMSO extract [29] .…”

Metabolic and motor activity effects of microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) in laboratory mice

“…6). Несмотря на многочисленные исследования, в которых были показаны антиоксидантные и противовос-палительные свойства хлореллы, противоопухолевые или другие положительные эффекты на организмы животных или человека (Vijayavel et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2010;Panahi et al, 2012aPanahi et al, , b, 2013Kim et al, 2015;Kubatka et al, 2015), работы по влиянию микроводорослей на поведение практически отсутствуют. Тем не менее при исследовании эффектов хлореллы, которую использовали как дополне-ние к стандартной схеме терапии антидепрессантами па-циентов с диагнозом Большое депрессивное расстройство (БДР), характеризующееся в том числе утратой интересов, снижением энергичности и повышенной утомляемостью, была показана ее эффективность (Panahi et al, 2015).…”

Chlorella vulgaris as a Source of Essential Fatty Acids and Micronutrients: A Brief Commentary

“…In addition, C. vulgaris dry extracts may modulate oxidative damage in chronically stressed individuals. A study providing 3600 mg/day (six weeks) dry C. vulgaris extract to non-comorbidity bearing smokers showed significant decrease in lipid peroxidation and optimized antioxidant status of participants [36]. Other Chlorella species (C. pyrenoidosa) were also shown to be beneficial for the treatment of signs and symptoms, specifically of fibromyalgia, hypertension, and ulcerative colitis.…”

“…As indicated by previous studies, Chlorella may be used as a dietary antioxidant [36,42]. In a recent work, patients (n=30) with non-alcoholic liver steatosis were supplemented with 400 mg/day vitamin E and 1200 mg/day C. vulgaris extract.…”