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The fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda is a destructive insect pest that belongs to the Noctuidae family and Lepidoptera order. It is a polyphagous pest that harms economically significant cereals and many vegetable crops. This pest has developed resistance to most of the synthetic insecticides through increasing enzymatic activity, so there is a need to take action to prevent the resistance development and damage caused by this pest. A laboratory study on the efficacy of Spirulina sp. and Nostoc muscorum extracts against S. frugiperda was tested using four different solvents: hexane, petroleum ether, ethanol and methanol. The results revealed that N. muscorum hexane and petroleum ether extract recorded the lowest LC50 values of 133.18 and 165.68 ppm, respectively. This was followed by Spirulina hexane and petroleum ether extract, with LC50 values of 337.28 and 468.05, ppm respectively. The results of the study of enzymatic inhibitory action of cyanobacterial extracts showed that Nostoc muscorum hexane and petroleum ether extract significantly decreased the activity of esterase, glutathione S-transferase and cytochrome p450 with a mean of 0.29 and 0.36 µmoles of naphthol min-1 µg-1 of protein, 1.30 and 1.40 µmoles of CDNB min-1 µg-1 of protein and 0.28 and 0.38 µmoles of p-nitroanisole min-1 µg-1 of protein respectively. This was followed by Spirulina hexane extract with a mean of 0.69 naphthol min-1 µg-1 of protein, 1.48 µmoles of CDNB min-1 µg-1 of protein and 0.46 p-nitroanisole min-1 µg-1 of protein respectively and control population significantly recorded higher enzymatic activities. Spirulina sp. and N. muscorum extracts were having a significant effect on larval mortality and inhibiting the detoxifying enzyme activity. These findings demonstrate the potential of cyanobacterial extracts as an innovative strategy against S. frugiperda and suggest that this may helpful in managing insecticide resistance.

Abstract Sea water is a component that interacts with the terrestrial environment, where the discharge of waste empties into the sea to the mainland. One of the most dangerous pollutants for human health is the heavy metal plumbum (Pb). Bioremediation offers a promising alternative method and the potential to reduce the concentration of heavy metals in water. Bioremediation is the application of biological processes to recover a contaminated place by using microorganisms. Biomass of algae Nannochloropsis sp. can be used as bioremediation of heavy metals because it has the ability adsorption caused the active cluster contained therein. In addition, Spirulina sp. thought to have the ability as an agent of bioremediation of heavy metal plumbum (Pb) because the proteins and polysaccharides are high. Information about uptake ability of heavy metal of plumbum (Pb) by Nannochloropsis sp. and Spirulina sp., in order to know how it compares to the ability of Nannochloropsis sp. and Spirulina sp. in absorbing the content of heavy metal plumbum (Pb). The method used in this study is the experimental method, the test T of SPSS analysis as the experimental design. Treatment given in the form of differences in the concentration of plumbum, which include, treatment A (Nannochloropsis sp. without the addition of plumbum), treatment B (Nannochloropsis sp. 0.9 ppm with plumbum concentrations), treatment C (Spirulina sp. without the addition of plumbum) and treatment D (Spirulina sp. with plumbum concentrations 0.9 ppm) of each treatment was repeated 5 times. The main parameters measured were real heavy metal plumbum (Pb) in water culture media Nannochloropsis sp. and Spirulinna sp. The results showed that Nannochloropsis sp. and Spirulina sp. able to absorb the heavy metals plumbum (Pb) so that it can be used as a bioremediation agent, where Spirulina sp. have higher ability in absorbing heavy metals plumbum (Pb) compared with Nannochloropsis sp

This study aimed to develop a method for determining protein amino acids in microalgae using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. To efficiently hydrolyze the microalgal proteins and obtain the amino acids, a rotational central composite design was employed with two independent variables: reaction temperature (99.7–170.3 ºC) and hydrolysis time (1.1–27.9 h). The amino acids were derivatized with N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide and analyzed on a gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer. Subsequently, the optimized condition was validated and used to characterize the amino acid profile of Spirulina sp. This validation adhered to the criteria set by ANVISA RDC No. 166 and European Union guidelines (SANTE 11312/2021) and consisted of assessing selectivity, limits of detection and quantification, linearity, working range, precision, and accuracy. Nineteen protein amino acids were detected and quantified from the biomass of Spirulina sp., and all validation parameters yielded satisfactory results. Our findings showed that using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry proved effective and reliable for determining protein amino acids in microalgae.

Diseases caused by oxidative stress can present different susceptibilities depending on blood typing according to the ABO system and RhD factor, which turn out to be of great clinical importance. The use of antioxidants such as C-phycocyanin (a phycobiliprotein) could be an alternative to mitigate oxidative stress in the blood. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the antioxidant and erythroprotective activity of C-phycocyanin (C-PC) from Spirulina sp. against oxidative stress caused by peroxyl radicals, before and after in vitro digestion, comparing susceptibilities between blood groups. C-phycocyanin from Spirulina sp. was obtained commercially. The antioxidant capacity by ABTS+•, DPPH•, and FRAP assays of the bioaccessible fraction of C-PC increased compared to baseline in all assays. Samples appear to have high hydrogen atom transfer. C-PC is not cytotoxic in most blood groups. The AAPH hemolysis assays showed differences between blood groups, yielding results of 27.90, 22.60, 26.94, 27.66, 28.16, 28.34, and 24.91% hemolysis for O+, O−, A+, A−, B+, AB+, and AB−, respectively. Furthermore, in vitro digestion increased the erythroprotective effect in the bioavailable fraction in most blood groups, showing 37.12, 80.13, 5.48, 92.38, 67.93, 80.30, and 76.49% inhibition of hemolysis in O+, O−, A+, A−, B+, AB+, and AB−, respectively. These results demonstrate the biotechnological and biomedical potential of phycobiliproteins as safe candidates for the development of nutraceuticals and functional foods aimed at preventing oxidative damage.

Chlorella and Spirulina are the most used microalgae mainly as powder, tablets, or capsules. However, the recent change in lifestyle of modern society encouraged the emergence of liquid food supplements. The current work evaluated the efficiency of several hydrolysis methods (ultrasound-assisted hydrolysis UAH, acid hydrolysis AH, autoclave-assisted hydrolysis AAH, and enzymatic hydrolysis EH) in order to develop liquid dietary supplements from Chlorella and Spirulina biomasses. Results showed that, EH gave the highest proteins content (78% and 31% for Spirulina and Chlorella , respectively) and also increased pigments content (4.5 mg/mL of phycocyanin and 12 µg/mL of carotenoids). Hydrolysates obtained with EH showed the highest scavenging activity (95–91%), allowing us, with the other above features, to propose this method as convenient for liquid food supplements development. Nevertheless, it has been shown that the choice of hydrolysis method depended on the vocation of the product to be prepared.

An analysis of the nutrition content of Spirulina sp is reported. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the nutritional value of Spirulina sp that produced by the large culture at ambient temperature. The analysis method was used high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, spectrophotometers UV-Vis and inductively Coupled Plasma-OES. The analysis has found vitamins, minerals, amino acids, pigments, and essential fatty acids. It is concluded that Spirulina sp which is produced by large-scale culture is a good source of nutrition and potent an alternative superfood.

Cyanobacterial phycobiliproteins, such as phycoerythrin (PE) and phycocyanin (PC), are colored potential bioactive proteins that have antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. In this study, we formulated a new food prototype based on PE and PC-fortified low-fat yogurt and cream cheese. Four distinct low-fat yogurt and cream cheese products were manufactured, including a control group (No PE and PC), samples produced with phycoerythrin (+ PE), samples produced with phycocyanin (+ PC), and samples produced with both phycoerythrin and phycocyanin (PC + PE). Afterwards statistically compared the physicochemical composition, colorimetric properties, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, and sensory profile of the fortified foods at 4 °C and 8 °C for 28 and 42 days. Additionally, we confirmed that PE and PC are not toxic to Caenorhabditis elegans at concentrations up to 1 mg/mL. The results showed that the MIC of PE and PC against E. coli was significantly higher than against S. aureus (3.12 ± 0.05 µg/mL vs. 1.56 ± 0.01 µg/mL, respectively; p  ≤ 0.05). Additionally, the maximum diameter of the inhibition zone of PE and PC against S. aureus was significantly higher than against E. coli (6.6 ± 0.011 mm vs. 11.66 ± 0.02 mm, respectively; p  ≤ 0.05). Results of color parameters showed that the control group had significantly higher L* values than the samples enriched with PE and PC. Moreover PE and PC significantly increased the a* and b* values respectively. The amount of ΔE in the control yogurts and cream cheese was higher than in the samples with PE and PC. Overall, the results showed that adding PE and PC had a significant effect on all measured factors ( p  < 0.01). Cream cheeses and low-fat yogurts enriched with either PE or PE + PC had the greatest antioxidant activity and the lowest number of psychrophilic bacteria and mold, and yeast counts at the end of the test period. Therefore, low-fat yogurt and cream cheese containing cyanobacterial PE and PC can be considered an innovative dairy product for the food industry. This study marks the initial effort to employ PE and PC derived from Nostoc sp. and Spirulina sp. as antioxidant and antimicrobial agents in the food industry.

Spirulina platensis is a microalga containing bioactive compound as antibacterial activity. The antibacterial compound from Spirulina can be used to treat bacterial infections on the skin such as acne. However, enhancement penetration of bioactive compounds through the skin was needed. The objective of this study was to determine bioactive compounds from Spirulina , synthesize Spirulina extract-water soluble chitosan nanoparticles using the ionic gelation method, and measure the antibacterial activity of Spirulina extract and its nanoparticles. For the synthesis of the nanoparticles, differences of Spirulina extract concentrations were used, including 3.25, 7.5, and 15 mg/mL. The yield of ethanolic Spirulina extract was 13.87±4.16% with the bioactive components of saponins, tannins, steroids, and phenols. The Spirulina extract-loaded chitosan nanoparticles were successfully fabricated with a nano-range size and narrow polydispersity. The amount of loading of Spirulina extract has affected the size and dispersion of nanoparticles. The antibacterial activity of nanoparticles showed higher than pure Spirulina extract only through Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa , classified as moderate inhibition zones (5-10 mm). These suggested that nanoencapsulation could increase extract uptake on bacteria cells. The ethanolic Spirulina extract-chitosan nanoparticles have a potency for antibacterial agents on cosmeceutical products.

In order to select excellent strains with high CO2 fixation capability on a large scale, nine Spirulina species were cultivated in columnar photobioreactors with the addition of 10% CO2. The two species selected (208 and 220) were optimized for pH value, total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and phosphorus content with intermittent CO2 addition in 4 m2 indoor raceway ponds. On the basis of biomass accumulation and CO2 fixation rate in the present study, the optimum pH, DIC, and phosphate concentration were 9.5, 0.1 mol L−1, and 200 mg L−1 for both strains, respectively. Lastly, the two strains selected were semi-continuously cultivated successfully for CO2 mitigation in 605 m2 raceway ponds aerated with food-grade CO2 purified from a coal chemical flue gas on a large scale. The daily average biomass dry weight of the two stains reached up to 18.7 and 13.2 g m−2 d−1, respectively, suggesting the two Spirulina strains can be utilized for mass production.

In this study, a marine microalga Spirulina sp.-derived protein was hydrolyzed using gastrointestinal enzymes to produce an angiotensin I (Ang I)-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptide. Following consecutive purification, the potent ACE inhibitory peptide was composed of 7 amino acids, Thr-Met-Glu-Pro-Gly-Lys-Pro (molecular weight, 759 Da). Analysis using the Lineweaver-Burk plot and molecular modeling suggested that the purified peptide acted as a mixed non-competitive inhibitor of ACE. The inhibitory effects of the peptide against the cellular production of vascular dysfunction-related factors induced by Ang II were also investigated. In human endothelial cells, the Ang II-induced production of nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species was inhibited, and the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) was downregulated when the cells were cultured with the purified peptide. Moreover, the peptide blocked the activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. These results indicated that this Spirulina sp.-derived peptide warrants further investigation as a potential pharmacological inhibitor of ACE and vascular dysfunction.