Microalgae platensis

The red microalga Porphyridium aerugineum is a source of blue color. This species is different from other red microalgae in that it lacks red phycoerythrin and its phycocyanin is C-phycocyanin rather than the R-phycocyanin that accompanies phycoerythrin found in many red algae and in other Porphyridium species. However, the biochemicals produced by P. aerugineum are similar to those of other red microalgae, e.g., sulfated polysaccharides, carotenoids, and lipids. An alternative source of C-phycocyanin is Spirulina platensis. ... 

Bermejo, R. et ah. Expanded bed adsorption chromatography for recovery of phyco-cyanins from the microalga Spirulina platensis, Chromatographia, 63, 59, 2006. Thieghem, (van) R, Monascus, genre nouveau de I ordre des ascomycfetes. Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 31, 226, 1884. 

Microalgae samples Spirulina platensis) consisted of air-dried microalgae with 6% moisture weight, from Algamar S.A. (Pontevedra, Spain), stored under dry and dark conditions. 

Accelerated Solvent Extraction of Functional Compounds from Microalgae Spirulina platensis... 

In a previous work, we studied the possibility of extracting antioxidants from microalgae Spirulina platensis using ASE with different solvents (33-34). Likewise, other authors have studied the carotenoids extraction from microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis and Dunaliella salina using ethanol as solvent and ASE (35). 

Microalgae have been used in various foods because of their ubiquitous availability in oceans and also due to their tremendous medicinal values. Earlier, as many as 206 strains of 152 marine microalgal species with UVA- and UVB-absorbing compounds were identified (Jeffrey et ah, 1999). Arthrospira platensis or Spirulina platensis (commonly called as nutraceutical spirulina) is a blue-green microalgae with a long history as a food source in East Africa and precolonial Mexico (Wikipedia). 

Suetsuna, K. and Chen, J. R. (2001). Identification of antihypertensive peptides from peptic digest of two microalgae Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis. Mar. Biotechnol 3, 305-309. 

Figure 7 Yearly average areal productivity of an inclined flat-panel PBR (45 degree) as a function of the residence time applied on the cultivation system operated in continuous mode (Nantes locations, France). Values are given for the microalga C. vulgaris and for the cyanobacteria A. platensis, illustrating the narrower range of residence time to maximize productivity for eukaryotic cells as explained by their sensitivity to dark volumes induced by too high values of residence time values.

Fig. 7 also compares biomass productivities between microalgae (ie, C. vulgaris) and cyanobacteria (ie, A. platensis). The same type of evolution is achieved for both species at low residence times (rapid decrease of surface productivity toward culture washout for low residence time values, ie, high dilution rate), but C. vulgaris showed significantly different productivity at high residence time values whereas A. platensis showed little impact. 

Andrich, G., A. Zinnai, U. Nesti, and F. Venturi. 2006. Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Oil from Microalga Spirulina (Arthrospira) Platensis. Acta Alimentaria 35 (2) 195-203. 

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