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Spirulina: possible pharmacological evaluation for insulin-like protein

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Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, hyperaminoacidemia, and hypoinsulinemia that leads to reduction in both insulin secretion and insulin action. Several natural products have been isolated and identified to restore the complications of diabetes. Spirulina is a naturally occurring freshwater cyanobacterium, enriched with proteins and essential nutrients. Treatment of diabetic rats with crude, aqueous extract, ethanolic extract, and insulin-like protein of Spirulina successfully ameliorated diabetic complications by increasing body weight and significantly decreasing the levels of blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, serum creatinine, serum uric acid, and blood urea nitrogen (p < 0.0001). Comparatively, the crude extract and insulin-like protein were found to be more effective than the aqueous and ethanolic extracts.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to CFTRI, Mysore, India, for providing the test strain and to UGC and CCRUM, India, for providing financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cyanobacterial Biotechnology Lab, Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi, 110025, India

    Razique Anwer, Anzar Alam, Saima Khursheed, Shaikh Mohd. Kashif & Tasneem Fatma

  2. Department of Ilmul Advia, Faculty of Medicine (Unani), Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, 110069, India

    Hifzul Kabir

Authors
  1. Razique Anwer
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  2. Anzar Alam
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  3. Saima Khursheed
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  4. Shaikh Mohd. Kashif
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  5. Hifzul Kabir
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  6. Tasneem Fatma
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tasneem Fatma.

Additional information

This paper was presented at the eighth Asia-Pacific Conference on Algal Biotechnology, Adelaide, Australia, 2012.

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Anwer, R., Alam, A., Khursheed, S. et al. Spirulina: possible pharmacological evaluation for insulin-like protein. J Appl Phycol 25, 883–889 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-012-9924-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-012-9924-z

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