Spirulina extract is an important molecule extracted from spirulina platensis, a 3.6 billion years old known microalgae. It is a natural, water soluble and non-toxic molecule with potent anti-cancer, anti oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Various research studies also support strong cytoprotective, hepatoprotective and neuroprotective profile of phycocyanin.
One of the most widely studied effects of spirulina extract (phycocyanin)is its antioxidant capacity and its free radical scavenging ability, both in-vivo & in-vitro (Romay et. al., 1998). Anti-oxidant potential of phycocyanin is mainly attributed to its phycobilisome (chromophore) moiety (Patel et. al., 2006) and partially to its apoprotein counterpart (Apt et. al., 1995) as the former shows high degree of conjugation of double bonds which stabilizes free radicals. It is well known that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in a diversity of important processes in medicine including inflammation, atherosclerosis, cancer, reperfusion injury etc. One way by which a substance can interfere with these processes, is by acting as an antioxidant. So it can be used as a natural colorant in a number of cosmetics.
