The relationship between Spirulina platensis and selected biomechanical indicators of tibiae in rats

Abstract

There are several dietary supplements, particularly herbal foods, that have been used in an attempt to improve bone growth. In this study, we aim at determining the effects of low- and high-doses of Spirulina platensis, a “Superfood”, on the bone growth and biomechanical indicators. Thirty Wistar rats, weighing 250 g, at the age of 7–8 weeks were assigned to three groups: The Control group (basal diet), Low-dose group (LDG; 500 mg/kg) and High-dose group (HDG; 1 000 mg/kg) of S. platensis. S. platensis was given daily by oral gavage in a 45-day-trial. At the end of the study, the right tibiae were collected and subjected to bone biomechanical tests (bone weight, bone length, maximum load, stiffness, breaking deflection, fracture toughness, post-yield displacement and yield load). Serum samples were also analysed for the calcium and phosphorus concentrations. There were significant increases in bone weight, bone length, maximum load, breaking deflection, work to fracture, post-yield displacement and yield load (P = 0.025, P = 0.019, P = 0.030, P = 0.015, P = 0.031, P = 0.028, P = 0.049, respectively), whereas stiffness non-significantly increased. However, there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) for any variables between the LDG and the HDG. Although the serum phosphorus concentrations showed no differences among any of the groups, the serum calcium concentration increased significantly in LDG compared to Control group (P = 0.009; 7.14 ± 0.47 and 9.45 ± 0.67, respectively). However, no differences were observed in HDG in terms of serum calcium. In conclusion, S. platensis had positive effects on the bone growth and biomechanical bone features. Therefore, our study supports the use of S. platensis as an alternative food additive for bone growth and health in growing animals.

Protective effect of Spirulina against bone fragility induced by Garcinia cambogia in high-fat diet induced obese rats

“…Thus, vitamin C, which is a co-factor for collagen synthesis, helped to increase bone stiffness and capacity to absorb the energy of the load. Spirulina also contains proteins which may improve the bone collagen structure (Suzer et al, 2020). These results were in line with bone dynamic histomorphometry indices which showed an increase in sLS/BS, dLS/BS, MS/BS, MAR, and BFR in S as compared to the obese control group.…”

Advances in delivery methods of Arthrospira platensis (spirulina) for enhanced therapeutic outcomes

“…Even omnivores have a highly absorbable form of iron; almost 1.5-2 mg of iron are absorbed out of 10 g of A. platensis powder dose; moreover, A. platensis powder is gentle on the digestive system [59]. A. platensis powder also contains a significant amount of calcium, relatively over 26 times the calcium in milk [60].…”

“…For further proof, more investigations have been reported with an objective of extracting, isolating and purifying alkaloids and phenolic compounds from A. platensis [89][90][91] against particular cell lines, for instance, hepatoblastoma (HepG2 cells) (IC 50 22.3 µg/mL of A. platensis aqueous extract) [92], colon carcinoma (HCT116) (IC 50 18.8 µg/mL of A. platensis aqueous extract) [92], acute leukemia (Kasumi-1) (IC 50 3.68 µg/mL of A. platensis ethanol extract), chronic leukemia (K562) (IC 50 4.64 µg/mL of A. platensis ethanol extract) [93], pancreatic cancer cells (IC 50 60 µM of PCB water extract and IC 50 125 µM of chlorophyllin water extract)) [94], human melanoma (A375) (IC 50 40 µM of Selenium-Phycocyanin (Se-PC) aqueous extract), human breast adenocarcinoma (Mcf-7) (IC 50 40 µM of Selenium-Phycocyanin (Se-PC) water extract), and human fibroblast (Hs68) (IC 50 40 µM of Se-PC water extract) [95]. All the extract's IC 50 were compared with other extract solutions, including control groups.…”