Improvement in vitamin B12 status of Wistar rats by supplementing the diet with Chlorella vulgaris biomass

C K Madhubalaji; V Rashmi; Vikas Singh Chauhan; R Sarada

doi:10.1007/s13197-020-04901-9

Improvement in vitamin B₁₂ status of Wistar rats by supplementing the diet with Chlorella vulgaris biomass

J Food Sci Technol. 2021 Nov;58(11):4270-4281. doi: 10.1007/s13197-020-04901-9. Epub 2020 Nov 25.

Authors

C K Madhubalaji^{1

2}, V Rashmi¹, Vikas Singh Chauhan^{1

2}, R Sarada^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Plant Cell Biotechnology Department, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, India.
² Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002 India.

Abstract

The sources of bioavailable vitamin B₁₂ are limited, and most of them are animal-derived. Chlorella vulgaris, a freshwater microalga, is known for immune system boosting, nutraceutical properties and presence of a natural form of vitamin B₁₂. The present study focused on the in vivo evaluation of the Chlorella biomass as a source of bioavailable vitamin B₁₂ to alleviate the vitamin B₁₂ deficiency status of Wistar rats. Experimental animals were evaluated for the vitamin B₁₂ deficiency-related circulatory marker (serum vitamin B₁₂) and functional markers (plasma homocysteine and urinary methylmalonic acid), haematological and histological changes. The results showed that an increase of 2.4-fold in urinary methylmalonic acid (13.01 ± 0.89 µmoles moles of creatinine^-1), 2.6-fold in plasma homocysteine (17.18 ± 3.57 µmole L^-1), and 48% decrease in serum vitamin B₁₂ levels (252.69 ± 1.46 pg mL^-1) in vitamin B₁₂ deficient group compared to control animals. The Chlorella biomass supplementation in the diet led to the restoration of the functional and circulatory markers, hematological parameters, and vitamin B₁₂ content of kidney and liver to control levels. The Chlorella biomass supplementation increased the erythrocyte precursors and MAST cells in the bone marrow and also normalized the histological features of kidney, liver, and lung tissues. The results suggest that the vitamin B₁₂ from the Chlorella biomass was bioavailable and facilitated the improvement of vitamin B₁₂ status in deficient rats.

Keywords: Bioavailability; Chlorella vulgaris; Homocysteine; Methylcobalamin; Vitamin B12; Vitamin B12 deficiency.