Inhibitory activities of microalgal extracts against Epstein-Barr virus DNA release from lymphoblastoid cells

This study aimed to assess the inhibitory activities of methanol extracts from the microalgae Ankistrodesmus convolutus, Synechococcus elongatus, and Spirulina platensis against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in three Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) cell lines, namely Akata, B95-8, and P3HR-1. The antiviral activity was assessed by quantifying the cell-free EBV DNA using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. The methanol extracts from Ankistrodesmus convolutus and Synechococcus elongatus displayed low cytotoxicity and potent effect in reducing cell-free EBV DNA (EC(50)<0.01 μg/ml) with a high therapeutic index (>28000). After fractionation by column chromatography, the fraction from Synechococcus elongatus (SEF1) reduced the cell-free EBV DNA most effectively (EC(50)=2.9 μg/ml, therapeutic index>69). Upon further fractionation by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the sub-fraction SEF1'a was most active in reducing the cell-free EBV DNA (EC(50)=1.38 μg/ml, therapeutic index>14.5). This study suggests that microalgae could be a potential source of antiviral compounds that can be used against EBV.     

Science Letters:Culture of Spirulina platensis in human urine for biomass production and O_2 evolution

INTRODUCTION For long distance manned space missions, bio- logical life support systems (BLSS) have to be in- troduced into the life support system to achieve regeneration of nutrient matter (Volker and Frank, 2001). Recently, many kinds of subsystems within BLSS have been proposed and experimented on solely or jointly, which include mainly higher plant, aquatic organisms (Volker and Frank, 2001), micro- organisms and microalgae (Gros et al., 2003). Mi- croalgae were incorporated in …     

Bioremediation potential of spirulina： toxicity and biosorption studies of lead

INTRODUCTION Environmental contamination by toxic metals isa serious problem worldwide due to their incrementalaccumulation in the food chain and continued per-sistence in the ecosystem. Conventional technologies,such as ion exchange or lime precipitation, are oftenineffective and/or expensive, particularly for the re-moval of heavy metal ions at low concentrations(below 50 mg/L). Furthermore, most of these tech-niques are based on physical displacement orchemical replacement, generating …     

电子流辐射和生长促进剂对钝顶螺旋藻生长影响的初步研究

本文阐述了电子流辐射以及生长促进剂对于螺旋藻生长的影响作用，结果表明不同强度的电子流辐射对螺旋藻造成不同程度的损伤，叶绿素a的含量下降，甚至死亡，并且给出了半致死的辐射剂量，同时也研究了生长促进剂对其生长的影响从而为大规模生产提供了一些有实用价值的信息。     

螺旋藻中部分常量和微量元素的FAAS法测定

干法灰化,消化液(HNO3∶HClO4=4∶1)溶解藻粉,用火焰原子吸收法直接测定其中的Ca、Mg、Zn、Mn、Cu等,结果显示,螺旋藻粉有丰富的各元素含量,该方法具有方法简便,快速可靠等优点,具有良好的精密度和准确度,平均回收率在99.07%～103.98%之间,在实际应用方面获得了令人满意的结果.