ABSTRACT
A novel photobioreactor was developed with a total volume of 30 m(3) which required merely 100 m(3) of land footprint. The bioreactor was capable of utilizing CO(2) in the flue gas of a power plant as the carbon source for the growth of a freshwater alga, Spirulina platensis, mitigating the greenhouse effect caused by the same amount of CO(2) discharge. Results of the study indicated that the photobioreactor was capable of fixing 2,234 kg of CO(2) per annum. Upon deducting the energy consumption of operating the bioreactor unit, the estimated amount of CO(2) to be fixed by a scaled-up reactor would be 74 tons ha(-1)year(-1). In addition, the study prove that protein-free polysaccharides of S. platensis could induce the production of pro-IL-1 and IL-1 proteins through the mediation of ERK, JNK, and p38 MAPKs pathways. As a consequence, immunogenic activities of the macrophage cells were enhanced.
Subject(s)
Gases/chemistry , Photobioreactors/microbiology , Polysaccharides/pharmacology , Power Plants , Spirulina/chemistry , Spirulina/growth & development , Water/chemistry , Animals , Carbon Cycle/drug effects , Cell Survival/drug effects , Chromatography, Gel , Cytokines/metabolism , Energy Metabolism/drug effects , Macrophages/cytology , Macrophages/drug effects , Macrophages/enzymology , Macrophages/metabolism , Mice , Photosynthesis/drug effects , Polysaccharides/isolation & purification , Solubility , Spirulina/drug effectsABSTRACT
The present study investigated the chemical composition of Isochrysis galbana Parke, a marine microalga which is widely used as a feedstock in aquaculture. From gas chromatography/mass spectrometric analysis the mono-sugar compositions of I. galbana were 2.1% fucose, 2.5% rhamnose, 2.7% arabinose, 8.5% xylose, 15.7% mannose, 32.7% galactose and 35.8% glucose. The polysaccharides of I. galbana were able to induce prointerleukin-1beta (pro-IL-1beta) protein expression within murine macrophages. Furthermore, five kinds of chlorophyll and one sterol were separated from the ethanolic extracts, including pheophorbide-a, ethyl pheophorbide-a, 10S-10-hydroxypheophytin-a, 10R-10-hydroxypheophytin-a, (132-R)-pheophytin-a, and brassicasterol. In addition, the major soluble components of the ethanol/n-hexane extract were 9-octadecenoic acid (E) (38.4%), hexadecanoic acid (23.3%), tetradecanoic acid (15.7%), and octadecanoic acid (7.2%), but only a few polyunsaturated fatty acids were found, such as 9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid (1.9%), 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z) (3.4%), and docosahexaenoic acid (0.2%). This is the first occasion that polysaccharides from I. galbana have been demonstrated to exert immunomodulatory properties by the induction of IL-1 within macrophages.
