Table 1.

In vitro and in vivo studies of biological roles of astaxanthin.

Model	Effect	Concentration	Target	Disease	Reference
Mice	Anti-inflammatory	25 mg/Kg/day	NF-κB, TNF-α	Cognitive impairment	[17]
SH-SY5Y cells	Anti-apoptotic	1 to 20 µM	6-OHDA, Casp3, Casp9, PARP	Not specific disease	[18]
PC12 cells	Antioxidant	5, 10, 20 μM	NOX2, NFR2, HO-1 Sp1/NR1	Not specific disease	[19,20]
Rats	Cell regeneration	20 mg/Kg/day	GFAP, MAP-2, BDNF, GAP-43 SOD, GSH,	Not specific disease	[21]
Rats	Neuroprotective	25 mg/kg	Not investigated	Cognitive disorders	[22]
Human	Antioxidant	6 or 12 mg/d	PLOOH	Dementia	[23]
Rats	Anti-inflammatory	1, 10 or 100 mg/Kg	TNF-α, PGE2, IL-1β	AD	[24]
BV-2 cells	Anti-inflammatory	50 µM	p-IKKα, p-IκBα, NF-κB p65, IL-6, MAPK	AD	[25]
Mice	Antioxidant	2 mg/kg	SOD, GSH, MDA, APOP	AD	[26]
PC12 cells	Antioxidant	0.1 µM	Bax, IL-1β, TNFα, NF-κB	AD	[27]
Primary hippocampal neurons	Antioxidant	0.1 µM	NFATc4, RyR2	AD	[28]
Neural Progenitor Cells (NPCs)	Pro-proliferative	5 and 10 ng/mL	PI3K, MEK, CDK2	AD	[29,30]
Mice	Neuroprotective	3 mg/kg	TH, IBA-1	PD	[4]
SH-SY5Y cells	Antioxidant	100 nM	PARP, CYTc	PD	[31]
Motor neurons	Antioxidant	100 nM	SOD1	ALS	[32]
SH-SY5Y cells and Rats	Neuroprotective	10 to 50 µM (cells) 30 mg/kg (rats)	iNOS, HSPs	IR	[33]
Mice	Neuroprotective	20 mg/kg	GHS, SOD, Cyt C, Casp3	IR	[34]
Rats	Neuroprotective	10 mg/Kg	SOD, MVA, Nef2, HO-1, NQO1	IR	[35]