C-Phycocyanin powder

C-Phycocyanin (C-PC) occurs as the major phycobiliprotein in

many cyanobacteria and as a secondary phycobiliprotein in some
red algae. The pigment has a single visible absorption maximum
between 615 and 620 nm and a fluorescence emission maximum
at ~650 nm. Its molecular weight is between 70,000 and 110,000
daltons.
The pigment is composed of two subunits, ? and ?, which occur in
equal numbers, but the exact number of ? and ? pairs which make
up the molecule may vary among the species. Both ? and ?
subunits contain only the PCB chromophore.
In addition to absorbing light directly, this intensely blue pigment
accepts quanta from phycoerythrin by fluorescence energy transfer
in organisms in which PE is present. The red fluorescence of C-PC
is transferred to allophycocyanin.
C-Phycocyanin (C-PC) is a phycobiliprotein found in blue green
algae, such as Spirulina platensis, is often used as a dietary
nutritional supplement and exhibit a variety of pharmacological
properties. In this regard, extraction, partial purification and
antioxidant, anticoagulation and prevention of DNA damage activity
of C-PC was investigated. In the present study, a simple and
efficient method to extract C-PC from Spirulina platensis dry
powder is reported.
The extractions were carried out using two different methods: cold
maceration and sonication method. The extraction using cold
maceration method proved to be the most efficient method.
Obtained crud CPC was purified by ammonium sulphate
precipitation, dialysis and gel filtration and presented a final
extraction yield of 3.27±0.09 mg/ml with a purity ratio of 2.317±0.08.
When it was evaluated as an antioxidant in vitro, it was able to
scavenge nitric oxide. C-PC showed significant anticoagulation and
prevention of DNA damage activity.The Cyanobacterium (blue-
green alga) Spirulina platensis has been commercialized in several
countries for its use as a health food and for therapeutic purposes
due to its valuable constituents
Particularly proteins and vitamins (McCarty, 2007). Cyanobacteria
and algae possess a wide range of colored compounds, including
chlorophyll, carotenoids and phycobilliproteins (Raja et a.l, 2008).
Among the protein present in Spirulina, Phycobiliproteins are
accessory photosynthetic pigments that participate in an extremely
efficient energy transfer chain in photosynthesis. It is a hydrophilic,
brilliantly colored and stable fluorescent pigment protein that can be
classified into three main groups:
Phycocyanin (deep blue), Phycoerythrin (deep red) and
Allophycocyanin (bluish green) depending on the inherent color and
absorbance properties (Raja et a.l, 2008).
The phycobilliproteins suchas C-phycocyanin (C-PC), allo-
phycocyanin, and phycoerythrin, are made up of dissimilar α and β
polypeptide subunits ((Raja et a.l, 2008). C-Phycocyanin (C-PC)
could be extracted from cyanobacteria such as Spirulina platensis,
which has been widely used in commercial applications in the food
and cosmetic industry as a natural blue dye. Recent studies have
demonstrated the role of C-PC in hepatoprotective (Ferreira et al.,
2010), anti-inflammatory (Ferreira et al., 2010; Deng and Chow,
2010) and antioxidant (Ferreira et al., 2010; Gantar et al., 2012) as
well as being a free radical scavenger (Gantar et al., 2012). Each
microorganism has particular characteristics referring to the
location of intracellularly produced proteins.
Hence the extraction protocol could vary according to the desired
protein. In general the extraction method is the key for maximum
recovery of phycobilliproteins in the natural state from algae
(Moares et al., 2010).
The extraction of phycobilliproteins involves cell rupture and
release of these proteins from within the cell. By considering
various significant biological applications of C-PC, the aim of this
study was extraction and purification of C-phycocyanin from the dry
Spirulina powder using various methods and to evaluate its
biological activities like antioxidant, anticoagulant and DNA
scavenging activity.
C-phycocyanin (C-PC) is a blue pigment and the most
commercially promising substance found in Spirulina sp (Liang et
al., 2004, Iyer et al., 2007). It is a water-soluble phycobiliprotein
(PBP) and photosynthetic accessory pigment (Eriksen, 2008). Its
main function is to collect and transfer light energy for the
chlorophyll when the chlorophyll experiences poor absorption and
transfer (Bennett and Bogorad, 1973, Zilinskas and Greenwald,
1986, Grossman et al., 1994). C-PC absorbs light at a wavelength
of approximately 620 nm and emits light (or fluoresces) at
approximately 640 nm (Bennett and Bogorad, 1973). C-PC serves
to store nitrogen and is selectively degraded when the cells are
starved of nitrogen (Grossman et al., 2001, Sloth et al., 2006).
C-PC has been mainly used as a nutritional ingredient, a
fluorescent marker or as a natural dye in foods or cosmetics and is
also known to be antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiplatelet, anti-
cancer, antifungal and antiviral in nature. It also has
nephroprotective and hepatoprotective properties (Eriksen, 2008).
Moreover, phycobiliproteins have yet to be reviewed in the
literature (Manirafasha et al., 2016, Stadnichuk and Tropin, 2017).
Among its numerous bioactivities, the antioxidant function of C-PC
may have the most value. In fact, it can protect the living cell from
oxidative stress by delaying or inhibiting lipid oxidation (Chadwick
et al., 2003).
Evidence taken from medical treatments has revealed that the
intake of antioxidant food constituents can maintain a balance
between the antioxidant system and reactive oxygen species
(ROS) production (Chadwick et al., 2003, Samaranayaka and Li-
Chan, 2011). Thus, the human body can fight various diseases
such as atherosclerosis, alzheimer, cancer, diabetes mellitus,
rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory diseases and the aging process
(Wu et al., 2005, Durackova, 2010).

Supercritical fluid CO2 (SCFCO2) is an interesting process to

separate non polar compounds from materials. It is environmentally
benign due to its non-toxic and non-flammable nature (Wimmer
and Zarevúcka, 2010).
 Furthermore, it is inexpensive because the CO2 used is a
byproduct of industrial processes, substantially available, odorless,
tasteless and can be removed from products easily (Fidder, 1999).
It has low critical temperature and pressure (31.0 °C and 7.36
MPa, respectively) which can preserve thermally unstable
substances (Wimmer and Zarevúcka, 2010, Mallikarjun et al.,
2014). The solvent power can be tuned by the manipulation of the
temperature and pressure (Crampon et al., 2013). Currently,
SCFCO2 is a valuable tool which is widely used for the large-scale
extraction of natural compounds and pharmaceutical products
(Mendesetal.,2003).
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