Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary neoplasia of the liver with elevated mortality. Experimental treatment with antioxidants has a beneficial effect on the experimental models of HCC. Arthrospira maxima (spirulina) and its phycocyanin have antitumoral action on different tumoral cells. However, it is unknown whether phycocyanin is the responsible molecule for the antitumoral effect on HCC. Photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) stands out among other spectroscopy techniques for its versatility of samples analyzed. This technique makes it possible to obtain the optical absorption spectrum of solid or liquid, dark or transparent samples. Previous studies report that assessing liver damage in rats produced by the modified resistant hepatocyte model (MRHM) is possible by analyzing their blood optical absorption spectrum. This study aimed to investigate, by PAS, the effect of phycocyanin obtained from spirulina on hepatic dysfunction. The optical absorption spectra analysis of the rat blood indicates the damage level induced by the MRHM group, being in concordance with the carried out biological conventional studies results, indicating an increase in the activity of hepatic enzymes, oxidative stress, Bax/Bcl2 ratio, cdk2, and AKT2 expression results, with a reduction in p53 expression. Also, PAS results suggest that phycocyanin decreases induced damage, due to the prevention of the Bax, AKT2, and p53 altered expression and the tumor progression in a HCC rat model.

中文翻译：

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光声光谱法评价C-藻蓝蛋白对肝癌大鼠模型的保肝作用

肝细胞癌（HCC）是最常见的肝脏原发性肿瘤，死亡率较高。抗氧化剂的实验治疗对 HCC 实验模型有有益的影响。极大节旋藻（螺旋藻）及其藻蓝蛋白对不同的肿瘤细胞具有抗肿瘤作用。然而，尚不清楚藻蓝蛋白是否是 HCC 抗肿瘤作用的负责分子。光声光谱 (PAS) 因其分析样品的多功能性而在其他光谱技术中脱颖而出。该技术使得获得固体或液体、深色或透明样品的光学吸收光谱成为可能。先前的研究报告称，通过分析改良耐药肝细胞模型（MRHM）大鼠的血液光学吸收光谱，可以评估其肝损伤。本研究旨在通过 PAS 研究从螺旋藻中提取的藻蓝蛋白对肝功能障碍的影响。大鼠血液的光学吸收光谱分析显示MRHM组引起的损伤程度，与所进行的生物学常规研究结果一致，表明肝酶活性、氧化应激、Bax/Bcl2比值、cdk2增加和 AKT2 表达结果，p53 表达减少。此外，PAS 结果表明，藻蓝蛋白可减少诱导损伤，因为它可以预防 HCC 大鼠模型中 Bax、AKT2 和 p53 的表达改变以及肿瘤进展。