Abstract:
Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina) is a cyanobacterium known to have prebiotic and hypocholesterolemic activities. This study investigated Spirulina’s prebiotic ability on the Pediococcus acidilactici (PA), and PA and Spirulina’s cholesterol-lowering ability in dietinduced hypercholesterolemic mice. PA populations decreased with higher concentrations of Spirulina, but increased with longer incubation times. Twenty-three (23) female BALB/c mice in butter-enhanced diet were randomly divided into 6 treatment groups: (1) Negative Control (butter only), (2) Positive Control (atorvastatin), (3) PA in mango-soymilk (MS) substrate (PAMS), (4) Spirulina with PA-MS (SPAMS), (5) Spirulina in MS (SMS), and (6) MS only. Total cholesterol readings from five (5) non-treated mice were obtained to establish baseline cholesterol values. Blood samples extracted through retro-orbital puncture were subjected to lipid profiling, showing that PAMS, SPAMS, and SMS lowered total cholesterol similar to atorvastatin. All treatments decreased triglycerides, but PAMS and SPAMS showed effects even greater than atorvastatin. None of the treatments exhibited a significant effect on HDL/c and LDL/c, indicating that the treatments did not demonstrate significant increase and decrease that is to be expected of the variables involved. Livers extracted and subjected to histopathological analysis showed that accumulation of lipid bodies was significantly lowered by PAMS and SPAMS, with both exhibiting similar effects as atorvastatin. Based on these findings, both PA and Spirulina have cholesterol-lowering effects, but do not produce a synbiotic effect together.
