Microalgae Nannochloropsis oceanica as a future new natural source of vitamin D 3 .

For the last two decades there has been a rise in awareness about the general low dietary intake of vitamin D ₃ . Fish have the highest natural content of vitamin D ₃ , which is suggested to originate from zooplankton and microalgae. However there are no studies reporting which microalgal species may be the source of vitamin D ₃ . In this study, four selected microalgal species were cultivated during exposure of artificial UVB. The effect of UVB dose on the growth and biochemical composition of the cells (vitamin D ₃ , PUFAs and carotenoids) was evaluated. Of the four species, exclusively Nannochloropsis oceanica was able to produce vitamin D ₃ (up to 1 ± 0.3 µg/g DM), and production was significantly enhanced by increasing the dose of the UVB. These findings suggest that N.oceanica exposed to artificial UVB could be used as a new natural source of vitamin D _3, either as direct source or through animal feed.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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