Therapeutic Efficacy of Spirulina in the Treatment of Formaldehyde Induced Rheumatoid Arthritis in Swiss Albino Mice

B. Dheeba¹*, P. Sampathkumar¹, M. Kannan², E.Vaishnavi² and Maragatham¹

¹Department of Chemistry and Biosciences, Srinivasa Ramanujan Centre, SASTRA University, Kumbakonam - 612 001, India .

²Department of Microbiology, V.H.N.S.N. College, Virudhunagar - 626 001, India.

Corresponding Author E-mail: deepabaskaran76@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: The present study evaluates the anti-arthritic effect of Spirulina fusiformis on formaldehyde induced Rheumatoid arthritis in mice. Arthritis was induced by intradermal injection of formaldehyde (0.1 ml of 2%v/v) into the right hind paw of Swiss albino mice. Spirulina fusiformis (500mg/kg b.wt & 1000mg/kg/b.wt) was orally administrated for 10 days. The anti arthritic effect of Spirulina fusiformis was evaluated by measuring changes in the paw volume, body weight, protein, uric acid, serum and liver lysosomal enzymes such as Acid phosphatase, b-glucuronidase and b- galactosidase, protein-bound carbohydrates such as hexose, hexosamine, fucose in control and experimental groups. In formaldehyde induced arthritic animals, the levels of lysosomal enzymes in serum and liver were decreased and the levels of protein-bound carbohydrates and paw volume were increased. However the body weight was found to be reduced when compared to control animals. Oral administration of Spirulina fusiformis (1000mg/kg/b.wt) significantly altered these physical and biochemical changes observed in arthritic animals to near normal conditions. Hence results of this study clearly indicate that Spirulina fusiformis has promising anti-arthritic activity against formaldehyde induced rheumatoid arthritic animals.

KEYWORDS: Spirulina fusiformis; Formaldehyde; Rheumatoid Arthritis; Anti-inflammatory

[ HTML Full Text]