Completed by Researcher Yeguang Li et al. from Wuhan Botanical Garden, “Measurement of Broken Cyst Ratio of Haematococcus pluvialis” won the state invention patent (ZL 2009 1 0063306.0).

The Haematococcus cyst is the most astaxanthin-enriched cell in nature. Large-scale cultivation of Haematococcus pluvialis is the main source of astaxanthin. As a natural carotenoid, astaxanthin can improve the flesh color of food fish and pigmentation of ornamental fish. It also has superior antioxidant ability, with obvious effect on anti-fatigue, anti-aging and enhancing human immunity. Currently, natural astaxanthin has been developed as a health-care product. Large-scale cultivation of Haematococcus pluvialis to produce natural astaxanthinis is an emerging international industry in microalgae biotechnology field in 21st century. Recently, mass-production of Haematococcus pluvialis cyst powder is started in China.

The thick cell wall of Haematococcus cyst is very sturdy and not easily broken. Humans and animals can not use the astaxanthin in unbroken Haematococcus pluvialis cyst effectively, thus, wall-breaking technology is very crucial and the broken cyst ratio is one of the major quality standards of Haematococcus products.

This invention provides a method to determine the broken cyst ratio of Haematococcus pluvialis cyst with easy method, rapid determination and accurate results. Meanwhile, it provides a reliable method both for quality control in manufacture plant and quality standardization in the market.

Haematococcus pluvialis