Availability and antiperoxidative effects of beta-carotene from Dunaliella bardawil in alcohol-drinking rats.

The present study demonstrated the high bioavailability and antiperoxidative capacity of the natural beta-carotene isomer mixture of Dunaliella bardawil compared with synthetic beta-carotene under alcohol-induced oxidative stress. Weanling rats were adapted to ethanol by increasing ethanol levels in their drinking water to 30% at 5% intervals per week; other rats received water with no added ethanol. One water-drinking group and one alcohol-drinking group with no dietary carotene were used as controls.

Dietary Dunaliella bardawil, a beta-carotene-rich alga, protects against acetic acid-induced small bowel inflammation in rats.

Background: Reactive oxygen species mediate tissue injury in inflammatory bowel disease. Beta-carotene is known as a potent free radical quencher and antioxidant.

Aim: The authors evaluated the efficacy of prefeeding Dunaliella bardawil, rich in beta-carotene, to ameliorate acid-induced enteritis in a rat model.

Effects of the marine unicellular alga Nannochloropsis sp. to reduce the plasma and liver cholesterol levels in male rats fed on diets with cholesterol.

The effects of Nannochloropsis were studied on rats consuming hypercholesterolemic diets. The whole biomass and the hexane/ethanol extract increased the plasma and hepatic eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids levels, and reduced the cholesterol levels. We also observed a higher level of propionate, and a lower ratio between acetate and propionate.

Bioavailability of the isomer mixture of phytoene and phytofluene-rich alga Dunaliella bardawil in rat plasma and tissues.

Dunaliella bardawil, a beta-carotene-accumulating alga was treated by the bleaching herbicide norflurazon to select sub-species rich with a mixture of 9-cis and all-trans stereoisomers of phytoene and phytofluene. The present study determines the bioavailability of phytoene and phytofluene with their stereoisomers in rats fed on a diet supplemented with Dunaliella phytoene-rich spray dried powder. Three groups of female weanling rats, eight animals each, were fed AIN diets for two weeks.

Dietary oxidized linoleic acid enhances liver cholesterol biosynthesis and secretion in rats.

Based on studies showing that excretion of cholesterol is elevated in rats fed oxidized linoleic acid, we hypothesized that cholesterol metabolism is enhanced under such oxidative stress. Liver cholesterol biosynthesis and secretion and fecal cholesterol excretion were studied in rats fed for 4 weeks diets containing 10% oxidized linoleic acid. Incubation of liver slices with 1-(14)C acetate and intraperitoneal injection of 5-(3)H-mevalonate showed the occurrence of enhanced hepatic cholesterol biosynthesis and elevated liver cholesterol secretion in animals subjected to oxidative stress.