Medical Application of Spirulina platensis Derived C‐Phycocyanin

Abstract

Along with the development of marine biological pharmaceutical research, high-effective and low-toxic drugs and functional foods isolated from marine organisms have become a new field of pharmacy and bromatology. The pharmacological actions, such as anti-inflammation, antioxidation, antitumor, immunological enhancement, and hepatorenal protection of C-phycocyanin (C-PC) from Spirulina platensis, have been reported, and C-PC has important value of development and utilization either as drug or as functional food. There are many researches about the various pharmacological actions and mechanisms of C-PC, but related reports are only to some extent integrated deeply and accurately enough, which put some limitations to the further application of C-PC in medicine. Particularly, with the improvement of living standards and attention to health issues, C-PC being a functional food is preferred by more and more people. C-PC is easy to get, safe, and nontoxic; thus, it has a great potential of research and development as a drug or functional food. Here, the separation and purification, physicochemical properties, physiological and pharmacological activities, safety, and some applications are reviewed to provide relevant basis for the development of natural medicine and applied products.

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

“…Antioxidant capacity and phenolic content of fermented A. platensis F&M-C256 biomass Arthrospira has in vitro and in vivo antioxidant, radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory activities, principally due to the presence of phycocyanin and polyphenols (Bhat and Madyastha 2000;Abd El-Baki et al 2009;Liu et al 2016).…”

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“…Phycocyanin content of blue-green algae can be used as a functional food (Prasanna, Sood, Suresh, Nayak, & Kaushik, 2007; Abd El Baky, El Baroty, & Ibrahem, 2015;Liu, Huang, Zhang, Cai, & Cai, 2016). Spirulina platensis has been used as a dietary supplement in animals (Vonshak & Tomaselli, 2002).…”

“…Zeinab et al (2015) reported that administration of S. platensis on Nile Tilapia feed increases hemoglobin compared to control; suplementasi 10% S. platensis increase hematocrit value (Ibrahem et al, 2013). Spirulina platensis contains phycocyanin, detection routine examination revealed that the blood parameters of red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells in the normal range for animals treated phycocyanin (Liu et al, 2016). Research Moreira, Behling, Rodrigues, Costa and Souza-Soares (2013), in which malnourished rats supplemented with S. platensis LEB-18 for 30 days to get that increased hematological.…”

Anti‐angiogenic effects of the blue‐green alga Arthrospira platensis on pancreatic cancer

“…Certain algae, including A platensis , also contain other potentially active substances that belong to a family of phycobilins (in particular phycocyanobilin), which are linear tetrapyrrolic compounds related to human bile pigments, known to have strong antioxidant as well as antiproliferative properties . Phycocyanobilin linked to a specific protein moiety forms a molecule called C‐phycocyanin exerting potent biological effects, including anticancer activities . However, molecular mechanisms accounting for these antiproliferative effects are largely unknown.…”