Abstract
This study was aimed at investigating the effect of astaxanthin on the immune function and its safety in mice. It was administered once daily at low, medium and high doses (4.2, 8.35, 16.70 mg/kg BW) to mice for 30 days. Subsequently, the spleen and thymus index, spleen lymphocyte transformation activity, delayed allergy reaction, amounts of antibody-producing cells, half-hemolytic value HC50, carbon particle clearance rate, macrophage phagocytosis, and natural killer cell (NK) activity were determined. Acute oral toxicity and genotoxicity tests were conducted to evaluate the safety of astaxanthin. Compared with the control group, medium and high doses of astaxanthin significantly increased the proliferation and transformation activities of spleen lymphocytes, activities of antibody-producing cells, serum hemolysin levels, and carbon particle clearance rate in mice (phagocytic index). High doses significantly improved delayed allergy reaction and NK cell activity. Results of acute oral toxicity and genotoxicity tests were negative. Gross anatomical observations and histopathological examination showed no abnormal changes associated with the treatments. In the article, it is confirmed that astaxanthin treatments significantly improve immune functions and show no toxic effects in the experimental doses.
Highlights
Astaxanthin is a dark-pinkish non-provitamin A carotenoid
Astaxanthin is derived from Haematococcus pluvialis with a content of 1.5%, which is directly soluble in corn oil
There was a significant difference between the cyclophosphamide positive control group and the negative control group (p < 0.01), suggesting that no sperm abnormality was observed in the male mice treated with astaxanthin
Summary
Astaxanthin is a dark-pinkish non-provitamin A carotenoid. It has a chemical structure similar to that of β-carotene and can be either chemically synthesized or naturally isolated [1,2]. Direct and indirect, are developed for synthesizing astaxanthin. Regardless of the method chosen, most of the synthesized products are in cis configurations (natural astaxanthin is in the trans structure [5]). The astaxanthin isolated from natural sources has high price and purity, which is suitable for human use. The composition of collected shrimp exoskeletons is complicated, and the content of astaxanthin is relatively low. The yield from the red yeast is low, and the fermentation process is complicated, which leads to special requirements for equipment sets [6]. These shortcomings limit the application of this production method [7]. The method drawing the most attention and being investigated is the extraction of astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis [8]
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