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Spirulina platensis, a multicelluar, photosynthetic prokaryote (algae) contains a high amount of proteins, vitamins and minerals superior to many foods as e.g. soybeans. Thus, Spirulina platensis was recognized as nutritious food by the United Nations World Food Conference. Due to the high amount of nutritive ingredients Spirulina has a long history as dietary supplement. In addition, spirulina platensis is also efficiently used as forage with known effects on flesh, egg and plumage color, milk yield and fertility. The versatile utilization of the alga can be explained on the one hand with the nutrient levels and on the other hand with recognized effects as anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory substance. Therefore, this alga is named as “superfood”. Beyond, these algae convert carbon dioxide into organic substances and produce oxygen during their growth in alkaline and saline water thereby not wasting fresh water allowing the production in barren areas.
Despite this diverse use of Spirulina platensis due to its beneficial properties, many basic mechanisms on a molecular and cellular level are not well understood and should be explored in future studies.
Arthrospira platensis (AP) is a cyanobacterium with a high economic value and is nowadays one of the most important industrially cultivated microalgae. Knowledge of its growth is essential for the understanding of its physiology and yield. The growth of AP biomass occurs through two mechanisms: (1) propagation by fragmentation of trichomes, and (2) the trichomes are extended by binary fission until they reach their mature status. These phases are visualized by live cell light and laser scanning microscopy, demonstrating the different phases of AP growth.
Novel HepG2 cell clones 1A2 C2 and 1A2 C7 were independently generated by lentiviral transduction to functionally overexpress cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2). We found similar and stable CYP1A2 transcript and protein levels in both cell clones leading to specific enzyme activities of about 370 pmol paracetamol x min-1 x
mg-1 protein analyzed by phenacetin conversion. Both clones showed dramatically increased sensitivity to the hepatotoxic compound aflatoxin B1 (EC50<100 nM) when compared to parental HepG2 cells (EC50 ∼5 μM). Thus, newly established cell lines are an appropriate tool to study metabolism and toxicity of substances depending on conversion by CYP1A2.