%0 Journal Article
%T New Medium for Pharmaceutical Grade Arthrospira
%A Amro A. Amara
%A Alexander Steinb¨¹chel
%J International Journal of Bacteriology
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/203432
%X The aim of this study is to produce a pharmaceutical grade single cell product of Arthrospira from a mixed culture. We have designed a medium derived from a combination between George¡¯s and Zarrouk¡¯s media. Our new medium has the ability to inhibit different forms of cyanobacterium and microalgae except the Chlorella. The medium and the cultivation conditions have been investigated to map the points where only Arthrospira could survive. For that, a mixed culture of pure Chlorella and Arthrospira (~90£¿:£¿10) has been used to develop the best medium composition that can lead to the enrichment of the Arthrospira growth and the inhibition of the Chlorella growth. To enable better control and to study its growth, an 80 l photobioreactor has been used. We have used high saline (2xA-St) medium which has been followed by in fermentor reducing its concentration to 1.5x. The investigation proves that Chlorella has completely disappeared. A method and a new saline medium have been established using a photobioreactor for in fermentor production of single cell Arthrospira. Such method enables the production of pure pharmaceutical grade Arthrospira for medicinal and pharmaceutical applications or as a single cell protein. 1. Introduction Using algae as a food and medicine is deeply rooted in the human history. In ancient Egypt and today, farmers used to collect floating algae on the surface of the water to feed their domestic birds. In a harsh environment when the land resources food become rare, alkaline lakes play a significant role as an alternative source. The alkaline lakes enable the growth of one of the few nontoxic cyanobacterial species, Arthrospira fusiformis [1]. Humans learned early how to use the Arthrospira as a food source. Seeing the migrant birds feed safely on Arthrospira, such as lesser flamingoes (Phoeniconaias minor Geoffroy), encourages such use. Kebeda (1997) reported that in Ethiopia, farmers and herdsmen living in areas close to the soda lakes make their cattle drink Arthrospira water about once a month and believe that it has therapeutic effects and compensates for some lack in dietary food [2]. The invention of the microscope enabled Turpin in 1827 to identify and describe Arthrospira as spiral cyanobacteria [3]. Species of Arthrospira have been found in a variety of environments including soil, sand, marshes, brackish water, seawater, and freshwater [1, 4]. Rich (1931) has reported it as a dominant phytoplankton in a number of lakes in the Rift Valley of East Africa [5]. 113 years after its first microscopic identification, Arthrospira was
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijb/2013/203432/