Isolation of mucopolysaccharides from processing discards of seal and beef

Abstract

Bone residues after mechanical deboning of carcass meat of harp seal ( Phoca groenlandica) may be used as an alternative source of mucopolysaccharides (MPS) for medical and cosmetic purposes. The content of MPS in seal processing discards and bovine diaphragm tissues was 0.79 and 0.91%, on a dry weight basis, respectively. However, the highest content of MPS was present in seal and bovine trachea cartilage (10.93 and 10.12%, respectively). Crude MPS from different sources were isolated with a yield of 57.1–72.9%. Optimum isolation involved hydrolysis of tissues with a proteolytic enzyme such as papain at 55°C for 12 h at a tissue to enzyme solution ratio of 1:3 (w/v), separation of enzyme by precipitation with trichloroacetic acid, purification of hydrolysate with 2 m NaOH at 20°C and subsequent dialysis and precipitation of MPS by methanol. The crude MPS obtained from seal processing discards contained 61.64% polysaccharides, 15.73% residual peptides and 17.53% ash.