Efecto in vitro de la espirulina sobre los linfocitos humanos de donantes sanos y pacientes con inmunodeficiencia celular

spirulina (spirulina spp) is a cyanophyceae alga used as a dietary supplement and for its medicinal properties. this paper was aimed at evaluating the in vitro effect of spirulina (spirel, génix, havana city, cuba) on 30 patients with diagnosis of cellular immunodeficiency and on 20 healthy donors from the institute of hematology and immunology by the lymphoblastic transformation tests with tritiated thymidine, expression of hla-dr and cd25 activation antigens by the immunocytochemical ultramicromethod, and the formation of active rosette. in the lymphoblastic transformation with criterion of tritiated thymidine, no statistically significant differences were found under the experimental conditions with and without spirulina, both in patients with cellular immunodeficiencies and in sound donors. statistically marked differences (p 0,001) were detected on applying the student's t test for matched samples between the experimental conditions with and without spirulina in the expression of the activation antigens and in the rosette formation in the analyzed groups. it was concluded that spirulina produced in cuba exerted a positive influence on the activation process of human lymphocytes.