Chlorella Vulgaris Biomass Supplementation Increased the Abundance of Hepatic Antioxidant Proteins in Relation to Oxidative Stress Reduction in Rabbits
Abstract Background Chlorella vulgaris is a unicellular microalga that is rich in antioxidant, its supplementation has been reported to reduce oxidative stress via upregulations of antioxidant genes. However, there are scarce reports on its effect on antioxidant protein expressions in rabbits – a situation which necessitate an untargeted proteomic profile analysis due to its supplementation. This is because untargeted proteomics profiling is an approach suitable for assessing the effectiveness of genes code translation into polypeptide chains folded into functional proteins used for specific sub-cellular or extracellular physiological activities. It remains one of the comparative avenues for evaluating the efficacies of drugs and nutraceutical agents including antioxidants. In this study, the antioxidant efficacy of a microalga Chlorella vulgaris was evaluated at molecular levels using its hepatic protein expression in rabbit models. Results After 120 days of the microalga supplementation, protein was extracted from liver of the rabbits for untargeted proteomics profiling using LC-MS/Orbitrap Fusion Tribrid™ peptides quantifier and sequencer. There were five-hundred and eleven (511) proteins identified; and among the proteins, 191 were specific to the control group while 186 were specific to the Treatment group; and 134 were common to both groups. Independent samples t-test of the protein abundance indicated that there was a significant difference (p = 0.01) between the treatment and the control groups. There was also a significant reduction in the malondialdehyde concentrations (p = 0.01), higher total antioxidant capacities (p = 0.002), and increased antioxidant enzyme activities (p = 0.05) between the treatment and control groups.Conclusion The study concluded that one of the molecular mechanisms associated with Chlorella vulgaris intake reduction of the hepatic oxidative stress is increased abundances of antioxidant proteins and reduction of the lipid peroxidation and these led to a suggestion that the microalga is a potent antioxidant agent suitable for protecting against oxidative stress in rabbits and other domestic food producing animals.