Table 4.

Literature review of encapsulation systems for pharmaceutical applications of bioactives or extracts from Arthrospira species.

Core Substance	Coating Material	Encapsulation Technique/System	Application	Major Findings	Reference
C-Phycocyanin	Chitosan Xanthan gum	Coated liposomes (chitosomes)/spray and freeze-dryer	Colonic drug delivery (anti-inflammatory)	In vitro mucoadhesive study revealed that the spray-drying method is advantageous to prepare C-phycocyanin-loaded chitosomes with excellent mucoadhesive properties for colonic drug delivery.	[211]
Phenolic extract	Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine Soybean asolectin	Liposomes	Antifusarium	The encapsulated extract exhibited higher antifungal activity (90% vs. 74%). and slower release profile when compared to its free form.	[212]
Phycocyanin	Sucrose laurate Sucrose erucate	Solid-in-oil nanodispersion	Transdermal drug delivery	In vitro skin permeation studies demonstrated that the nanodispersion with low surfactant content was able to facilitate the accumulation of phycocyanin in the stratum corneum, followed by its permeation into deeper layers for transdermal delivery.	[203]
C-Phycocyanin from A. platensis	Cholesterol l-phosphatidylcholine	Liposomes	Topical anti-inflammatory	In vitro skin permeation studies revealed that phycocyanin loaded-liposomes exhibited the best drug accumulation into the stratum corneum and in the whole skin, with higher amounts than the corresponding free phycocyanin gel. Liposomes were able to produce the same topical anti-inflammatory response as the free phycocyanin by using half the dose.	[213]
A. platensis fatty acids	Copper-alginate	Ultrasound emulsification	Anti-biofilm	Free fatty acids-loaded nanocarriers enhanced topical anti-biofilm growth activity with low concentrations (about 50% inhibition after 24 h at 0.1 mg/mL).	[214]
Aqueous extract	Polycaprolactone	Electrospinning	Tissue engineering (scaffold)	The addition of Arthrospira extract into PCL nanofibers showed potential to be a novel scaffold on fibroblast culture, improving the cells’ attachment rate and their infiltration depth.	[215]