The effect of carotenoids on in vitro immunoglobulin (Ig) production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) was examined by employing biood samples from adult volunteers and fill-term newborn babies (umbilical cord blood). Under carotenoid-supplemented culture conditions, cells were stimulated by polyclonal stimulants, neoantigens, and a recall antigen (Ag), and IgM, IgA, and IgG4eveI.s ...

The freshwater unicellular microalga Haematococcus pluvialis (H. pluvialis) has gained increasing attention because of its high-value metabolite astaxanthin, a super anti-oxidant. For the maximum astaxanthin production, a key problem is how to determine the senescent green vegetative phase of H. pluvialis cells to apply the astaxanthin production inducers. The conventional methods are time-cons...

Haematococcus pluvialis is one of the potent organisms for production of astaxanthin. Up to now, no efficient method has been achieved due to its thick cell wall hindering solvent extraction of astaxanthin. In this study, four different methods, hydrochloric acid pretreatment followed by acetone extraction (HCl-ACE), hexane/isopropanol (6:4, v/v) mixture solvents extraction (HEX-IPA), methanol ...

Oral lichen planus is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the mucous membrane of the oral cavity and can contribute to the development of other diseases. Inflammation in oral lichen planus is a T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease that acts through cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells to trigger apoptosis of keratinocytes. However, the specific cause of oral lichen planus remains unknown and no effec...

BACKGROUND The xanthophyll astaxanthin is a high-value compound with applications in the nutraceutical, cosmetic, food, and animal feed industries. Besides chemical synthesis and extraction from naturally producing organisms like Haematococcus pluvialis, heterologous biosynthesis in non-carotenogenic microorganisms like Escherichia coli, is a promising alternative for sustainable production of ...

BACKGROUND Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous is a basidiomycetous yeast that is relevant to biotechnology, as it can synthesize the carotenoid astaxanthin. However, the astaxanthin levels produced by wild-type strains are low. Although different approaches for promoting increased astaxanthin production have been attempted, no commercially competitive results have been obtained thus far. A promising...

The fresh-water green unicellular alga Haematococcus pluvialis is known to accumulate astaxanthin under stress conditions. In the present study, transcriptional expression of eight genes involved in astaxanthin biosynthesis exposed to EBR (25 and 50 mg/L) was analyzed using qRT-PCR. The results demonstrated that both 25 and 50 mg/L EBR could increase astaxanthin productivity and the eight carot...

Immunomodulating activities of beta-carotene and carotene-associated carotenoids such as canthaxanthin (beta, beta-carotene-4,4 dione) and astaxanthin (3,3'-dihydroxyl beta, beta-carotene 4,4-dione) were analyzed by in vitro cell culture experiments. (i) beta-Carotene, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin caused significant stimulatory effects on the cell proliferative response of spleen cells and thy...

Dietary carotenoids exhibit various biological activities, including antioxidative activity. In particular, astaxanthin, a type of carotenoid, is well known as a powerful antioxidant. We investigated whether astaxanthin would protect against light-induced retinal damage. In an in vivo study, ddY male mice were exposed to white light at 8,000 lux for 3 h to induce retinal damage. Five days after...

Microalgae have potential to help meet energy and food demands without exacerbating environmental problems. There is interest in the unicellular green alga Chromochloris zofingiensis, because it produces lipids for biofuels and a highly valuable carotenoid nutraceutical, astaxanthin. To advance understanding of its biology and facilitate commercial development, we present a C. zofingiensis chro...