Effect of C-Phycocyanin on Isolated Mitochondria

C-phycocyanin, a water soluble light-harvesting pigment-protein complex of the cyanobacteria photosynthetic apparatus, demonstrates antioxidant, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory effects, and is often used in medical studies. In this work, the effect of C-phycocyanin isolated from the cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis on the bioenergetic parameters of rat-liver mitochondria is examined. It is shown that C-phycocyanin does not exhibit uncoupling, depolarization or inhibition of the respiratory chain action for isolated rat-liver mitochondria, does not reduce the rate of ATP synthesis, but does exhibit a strong antioxidant effect.