What this work is about, in plain words
Do oil extracts of microalgae harm blood formation and the immune system of mice? The authors compared five species: red blood cells and hemoglobin did not change, while white blood cells and immune cells changed in different ways.
Blood formation and immunity are especially sensitive to foreign substances, so they are among the first things checked when the safety of new supplements is assessed. The authors studied how oil extracts of five microalgae species affect the blood and immune cells of mice.
Cultures of Chlorella vulgaris, Coelastrella sp., Arthrospira platensis, Cylindrotheca closterium and Porphyridium purpureum were grown in laboratory photobioreactors, dried and infused in sunflower oil. This oil was used to soak feed that female mice ate for 12 days (5 animals per group). Blood cells were then counted, the number and proliferation of spleen and thymus cells were assessed, and blood immunoglobulins were measured.
According to the authors, none of the extracts changed the red blood cell count or hemoglobin. The Chlorella and Cylindrotheca extracts reduced the white blood cell count; individual extracts changed the proportions of neutrophils, eosinophils, monocytes and lymphocytes. All extracts reduced the proliferation of spleen cells in vitro, while the effect on thymus cells depended on the species. The Coelastrella extract increased immunoglobulin G, and Porphyridium and Chlorella reduced immunoglobulins M and A.
Limitations. Small groups, 12 days. 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.