Nova, M.; Citterio, S.; Martegani, E.; Colombo, S. Unraveling the Anti-Aging Properties of Phycocyanin from the Cyanobacterium Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis). Int. J. Mol. Sci.2024, 25, 4215.
Nova, M.; Citterio, S.; Martegani, E.; Colombo, S. Unraveling the Anti-Aging Properties of Phycocyanin from the Cyanobacterium Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis). Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25, 4215.
Nova, M.; Citterio, S.; Martegani, E.; Colombo, S. Unraveling the Anti-Aging Properties of Phycocyanin from the Cyanobacterium Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis). Int. J. Mol. Sci.2024, 25, 4215.
Nova, M.; Citterio, S.; Martegani, E.; Colombo, S. Unraveling the Anti-Aging Properties of Phycocyanin from the Cyanobacterium Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis). Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25, 4215.
Abstract
In recent years, marine natural products have become one of the most important resources of novel lead compounds for critical diseases associated with age. Spirulina, a dietary supplement made from blue-green algae (cyanobacteria: scientific name Arthrospira platensis), is particularly rich in phycocyanin, a phycobiliprotein, which accounts for up to 20% of this cyanobacterium’s dry weight and is considered responsible for its anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. Although the anti-aging activity of phycocyanin has been investigated, how exactly this compound works against aging remains elusive. Aim of our research is to use the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism to investigate the anti-aging properties of phycocyanin from A. platensis. Our results show that phycocyanin has a powerful anti-aging effect, greatly extending the chronological life span of yeast cells in a dose-dependent way, being the effect pronounced also when cells were grown in SD medium under calorie restriction conditions (0.2% glucose). Both ROS and accumulation of dead cells were followed by staining chronologically aged cells with dihydrorhodamine 123 (DHR123) and propidium iodide (PI). Interestingly, we found that most of the aged phycocyanin treated cells, which were unable to form colonies, were actually ROS+/PI–. Finally, we show that the moment in which phycocyanin is added to the culture does not substantially influence its effectiveness in counteracting chronological aging.
Keywords
ROS, Aging, chronological life span, Yeast, S. cerevisiae
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Aging
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
