Journal du génie chimique et de la technologie des procédés
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Comparative Studies on Accumulation of Selected Microelements by Spirulina Platensis and Chlorella Vulgaris with the Prospects of Functional Food Development

Szabolcs Molnár, Attila Kiss, Diána Virág and Péter Forgó

Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis as plausible basic material of perspective functional foodstuffs were in the focus of the research due to the high content of bioactive compounds, favorable growing feature and pronounced microelement accumulation capabilities.

The emphasis was laid on the investigation of bioaccumulation of four microelements (Fe(III), Cu(II), Zn(II), Mo(VI)) in cases of the two abovementioned alga species. Metal binding aspects of algae in our case was not examined for perspective utilisation in environmental protection, but purposively for revealing ways for possible functional food developments.

Both Spirulina platensis and Chlorella vulgaris proved to be efficient in terms of metal accumulation in two-weeklong experiments. With the exception of molybdenum the bioaccumulation capacity of Chlorella exceeded that of Spirulina. Iron (789.7 ± 102.7mg kg-1) and zinc (378.1 ± 5.5mg kg-1) were accumulated to a large extent by Chlorella vulgaris, while bioaccumulation ability of Spirulina platensis proved to be the most significant for iron (676.9 ± 27.6mg kg-1) and molybdenum (5.79 ± 1.1mg kg-1).

The biomass of Spirulina platensis increased to greater extent than that of Chlorella after the same incubation time in case of the control media, however metal treatment of the media favoured more pronouncedly the growth of biomass of Chlorella vulgaris. The biomass of Spirulina platensis was diminished when incubated in metal fortified media, with the exception of iron.
As a consequence it might be established that both studied algae species can be suggested for involvement in further functional food developments, since they may inevitably contribute to microelement supply of humans, or to the prevention of iron deficiency anaemia thanks to their large microelement accumulation capabilities.