Evaluation of C-phycocyanin Effects with Drug Purity on the Immune System through Its Effect on Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ)

Introduction: Spirulina (Arthrospira) exerts a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities that are largely attributed to its phycobiliprotein content, mainly to C-phycocyanin. C-Phycocyanin is a natural blue pigment with many commercial applications in foods, cosmetics, and medicines. Methods: In this study, the stimulatory effect of C-phycocyanin on the immune system was investigated using blood tissue and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) and the measurement of inflammatory cytokine, interferon-gamma, which has important effects on dedicated immune responses. For this purpose, extraction of PBMC blood cells from blood tissue The range of purified C-phycocyanin extract concentrations with drug puritywas: 1 μg/ml, 10 μg/ml, 100 μg/ml, 250 μg/ml. Then, the response of PBMC cells to C-phycocyanin at the protein level was investigated. Finally, interferon-gamma was measured using the culture supernatant and ELISA sandwich method. Results: Descriptive analysis of the read concentrations results by ELISA technique showed that C-phycocyanin is dose-dependent and the results of the effect of C-phycocyanin on PBMC cells in blood tissue showed the strengthening of the immune system by increasing the amount of inflammatory cytokines. According to the results of the analysis of variance, it is observed that the p-value is less than 0.05. This means there is a significant difference between the mean read concentration of ELISA in different concentrations of cytokines. Conclusion: The results of the experiments demonstrate that C-phycocyanin activates PBMC cells in a manner that is consistent with the recruitment of diverse populations of leukocytes in response to inflammatory and infectious signals.