Project description:Diabetes and Arteriosclerosis progression are frequently observed in borderline Type 2 diabetes cases. Onset of complications (arteriosclerosis and renal damage) due to Type 2 diabetes is well documented; it is extremely important to prevent or delay their progression. Type 2 diabetes onset and progression has been controlled through dietary habits and exercise, although these remain insufficient. Chlorella ingestion improves blood glucose and cholesterol concentrations in mice and humans, although no reports have evaluated Chlorella effects in borderline diabetics. Therefore, we conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled trial for borderline diabetics using laboratory results and comprehensive gene analysis as outcomes. Chlorella ingestion suppressed resistin gene expression, suggesting that Chlorella may be useful for preventing diabetes onset and ameliorating arteriosclerosis. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups: Chlorella group (n = 28) ingesting Chlorella powder (8.0 g/day) and placebo group (n = 29) ingesting lactose formulation (8.0 g/day) for 12 weeks. Blood and urine were collected every 4 weeks for laboratory tests. Gene expression analysis used RNA extracted from peripheral blood samples before and after 12 weeks of Chlorella or lactose ingestion.
Project description:Chlorella has been used as a food supplement and has been reported to have health benefits. We used the forced swimming test to investigate the influence of Chlorella intake during muscle stress training in mice. Swimming time was about two-fold longer for the Chlorella intake mice than for the control mice. Microarray analysis revealed that the global expression profile of muscle from the Chlorella intake mice was similar to that for intact (nonswimming) mice rather than to that for control swimming mice. By contrast, oxidoreductase activity and the leukotriene synthesis pathway were repressed in Chlorella intake mice. According to measurement of the cytokine activities of primary cultures of spleen, Th1 cytokines, such as interferon-gM-cM-^CM-;and interleukin-2, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factors, such as MIP-1aM-cM-^CM-; GMCSF, and IP-10, were decreased in control swimming mice, but these cytokines were rescued in the Chlorella intake mice. We suggest that the immune response during muscle training can be repressed by intake of Chlorella. The intact (nonswimming) and control (swimming) groups were fed normal food, and the Chlorella intake (swimming) group was fed food including 0.5% Chlorella powder. After 14days, the total RNA was isolated from muscle and samples was pooled for each group (n = 10 for each group).