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Well-tolerated Spirulina extract inhibits influenza virus replication and reduces virus-induced mortality

Overview of attention for article published in Scientific Reports, April 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (95th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (93rd percentile)

Mentioned by

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4 news outlets
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25 X users
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1 patent
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1 Facebook page
reddit
1 Redditor
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1 YouTube creator

Citations

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73 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
121 Mendeley
Title
Well-tolerated Spirulina extract inhibits influenza virus replication and reduces virus-induced mortality
Published in
Scientific Reports, April 2016
DOI 10.1038/srep24253
Pubmed ID
Authors

Yi-Hsiang Chen, Gi-Kung Chang, Shu-Ming Kuo, Sheng-Yu Huang, I-Chen Hu, Yu-Lun Lo, Shin-Ru Shih

Abstract

Influenza is one of the most common human respiratory diseases, and represents a serious public health concern. However, the high mutability of influenza viruses has hampered vaccine development, and resistant strains to existing anti-viral drugs have also emerged. Novel anti-influenza therapies are urgently needed, and in this study, we describe the anti-viral properties of a Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) cold water extract. Anti-viral effects have previously been reported for extracts and specific substances derived from Spirulina, and here we show that this Spirulina cold water extract has low cellular toxicity, and is well-tolerated in animal models at one dose as high as 5,000 mg/kg, or 3,000 mg/kg/day for 14 successive days. Anti-flu efficacy studies revealed that the Spirulina extract inhibited viral plaque formation in a broad range of influenza viruses, including oseltamivir-resistant strains. Spirulina extract was found to act at an early stage of infection to reduce virus yields in cells and improve survival in influenza-infected mice, with inhibition of influenza hemagglutination identified as one of the mechanisms involved. Together, these results suggest that the cold water extract of Spirulina might serve as a safe and effective therapeutic agent to manage influenza outbreaks, and further clinical investigation may be warranted.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 25 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 121 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Poland 1 <1%
Unknown 120 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 30 25%
Student > Ph. D. Student 14 12%
Researcher 14 12%
Student > Master 12 10%
Student > Postgraduate 6 5%
Other 16 13%
Unknown 29 24%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 25 21%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 22 18%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 8 7%
Medicine and Dentistry 8 7%
Environmental Science 6 5%
Other 19 16%
Unknown 33 27%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 57. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 January 2024.
All research outputs
#746,387
of 25,506,250 outputs
Outputs from Scientific Reports
#8,108
of 141,447 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#13,359
of 316,555 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Scientific Reports
#193
of 3,102 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,506,250 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 141,447 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 18.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 316,555 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 3,102 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.