What this work is about, in plain words
For 12 days, mice were given feed soaked with oil extracts of five microalgae species. The authors monitored body weight and blood sugar.
Microalgae contain fats, pigments and other substances that may affect metabolism. The authors wanted to test how feed with oil extracts of microalgae from different groups affects body weight and glucose levels in mice.
Five cultures were used: the green algae Chlorella vulgaris and Coelastrella sp., the cyanobacterium Arthrospira (spirulina), the diatom Cylindrotheca closterium and the red alga Porphyridium purpureum. Dry biomass was infused in sunflower oil for three days, and ordinary feed was soaked with this oil. Female C57BL/6 mice received this feed for 12 days, 5 animals per group; a control group of 6 mice ate feed with plain oil. The mice were weighed and blood glucose was measured on days 0, 7 and 12.
According to the authors, no animals died, and body weight changed by −4 to +2 % of the initial value during the experiment. There were some differences between groups in weight and in glucose on day 7, but the authors conclude that the extracts showed no toxic effect and did not substantially affect weight gain or glucose levels.
Limitations. Small groups, a short period, one dose. A study in mice; the conclusions do not carry over to humans. This is one and the same experiment, whose results the authors spread across five articles in 2021–2023 (weight and glucose, biochemistry, hematopoiesis and immunity, cytokines, a summarizing article); they are not independent confirmations. The results were obtained by the authors of the article and do not describe Laboratory 17 materials.