Superfood and Medicines Based on Bioactive Substances Derived from Cyanobacteria

Abstract Most recently, selected cyanobacteria, particularly, spirulina has attracted worldwide attention as the rich nutritional protein source for animals and the humans. Such organisms are easy to grow and harvest on an industrial scale. Some of the fast-growing cyanobacteria contain high level of hydrocarbons, and therefore, such material is considered as a natural and green chemistry biofuel substrate. This species is also rich in number of low-molecular mass compounds including carotenoids and vitamins; therefore, many medical applications of spirulina have been described. It is noteworthy to say that spirulina products were successfully applied as a complementary diet for patients suffering from denutrition, allergy, glycemia, and lipidemia. Moreover, spirulina cells possess a wide range of colored substances, including carotenoids, chlorophyll, and phycobiliproteins, which can be used as the environmentally friendly food and cosmetic colorants characterized by strong antioxidant activity. For that reason, metabolomic profile of cyanobacteria harvested under different conditions is still extensively investigated. This communication provides the general information about cyanobacteria active metabolites and, particularly, use of such biological material as the ingredient of food and pharmaceutical formulations that are available on the market. The list of more than 30 diet supplements, food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceutics with detailed specification of an active chemicals contents, which can be purchased today in different countries worldwide, has been provided. Selected examples of research papers dealing with metabolomic analysis of spirulina samples for efficient isolation and detection of target low-molecular mass metabolites have been reported. Moreover, latest research dealing with selected proteins and pigments targeted analysis of spirulina samples involving, eg, organic solvents extraction, low-parachor organic solvents fractionation, and micro-TLC protocols as well as application of such studies for rapid quality assessment of spirulina based pharmaceutical formulations is discussed.