Naturally Drug-Loaded Chitin: Isolation and Applications

Abstract

Naturally occurring three-dimensional (3D) biopolymer-based matrices that can be used in different biomedical applications are sustainable alternatives to various artificial 3D materials. For this purpose, chitin-based structures from marine sponges are very promising substitutes. Marine sponges from the order Verongiida (class Demospongiae) are typical examples of demosponges with well-developed chitinous skeletons. In particular, species belonging to the family Ianthellidae possess chitinous, flat, fan-like fibrous skeletons with a unique, microporous 3D architecture that makes them particularly interesting for applications. In this work, we focus our attention on the demosponge Ianthella flabelliformis (Linnaeus, 1759) for simultaneous extraction of both naturally occurring (“ready-to-use”) chitin scaffolds, and biologically active bromotyrosines which are recognized as potential antibiotic, antitumor, and marine antifouling substances. We show that selected bromotyrosines are located within pigmental cells which, however, are localized within chitinous skeletal fibers of I. flabelliformis. A two-step reaction provides two products: treatment with methanol extracts the bromotyrosine compounds bastadin 25 and araplysillin-I N20 sulfamate, and a subsequent treatment with acetic acid and sodium hydroxide exposes the 3D chitinous scaffold. This scaffold is a mesh-like structure, which retains its capillary network, and its use as a potential drug delivery biomaterial was examined for the first time. The results demonstrate that sponge-derived chitin scaffolds, impregnated with decamethoxine, effectively inhibit growth of the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus in an agar diffusion assay.

Electrochemical Approach for Isolation of Chitin from the Skeleton of the Black Coral Cirrhipathes sp. (Antipatharia)

“…Thus, we obtained a membranous organic matrix, with regular pores up to 100 µm large. Calcofluor white staining of this matter ( Figure 7B) allows us to assume, with a high probability, the chitinous nature of the matrix, taking into account previously published results on chitin identification using this broadly applied technique [3][4][5]9,10,13,16,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58]. For indisputable identification of chitin, we used infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR), the chitinase digestion test, and ESI-MS-based analytics as represented below.…”

“…The fragment of isolated chitinous scaffold from Cirrhipathes sp. was treated with Yatalase enzyme solution (pH 6.5) [58]. The treatment was carried out for 6 h at 37 °C.…”

“…The fragment of isolated chitinous scaffold from Cirrhipathes sp. was treated with Yatalase enzyme solution (pH 6.5) [58]. The treatment was carried out for 6 h at 37 • C. The progress of digestion was observed under light microscopy using BZ-9000 microscope (Keyence, Osaka, Japan).…”

3D Chitin Scaffolds from the Marine Demosponge Aplysina archeri as a Support for Laccase Immobilization and Its Use in the Removal of Pharmaceuticals

“…Thus, demosponges of the order Dictioceratida (also known as commercial bath sponges) [7,8] represent a renewable source of proteinaceous spongin scaffolds which have recently been reported as effective in applications in extreme biomimetics [9][10][11][12], waste treatment [13][14][15][16][17], electrochemistry [18], and enzyme immobilization [19]. Meanwhile, marine demosponges of the order Verongiida have been recognized as a renewable source of uniquely pre-structured 3D chitinous scaffolds [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] which have found applications in tissue engineering [6,21,[29][30][31][32][33][34], drug release [35], the development of hybrid materials [36][37][38][39][40], and environmental science [41,42]. Chitin of invertebrate origin has previously been studied by researchers in protein immobilization as a matrix for the immobilization of enzymes [43][44][45][46][47][48], including ...…”

3D Chitin Scaffolds of Marine Demosponge Origin for Biomimetic Mollusk Hemolymph-Associated Biomineralization Ex-Vivo

“…This trend is well represented in the book by Choi and Ben-Nissan entitled Marine-Derived Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering Applications [13]. We completely agree with the statement of Professor Pierfrancesco Morganti that "the use of natural polymers in substitution to the petrol-derived ones seems the best way to produce skin-friendly healthy tissues and, slowing down the increased plastics production and waste, to try to save the Earth's environment equilibrium and biodiversity" [2].Special attention is currently paid to naturally pre-designed scaffolds found in skeletons of diverse marine sponges, which represent unique renewable resources for the sustainable development of novel 3D biomaterials [14][15][16][17][18][19]. The main players in this field are marine demosponges (phylum Porifera: class Demospongiae) of the orders Dictyoceratida (subclass Keratosa) and Verongiida (subclass Verongimorpha), which produce microporous proteinaceous (spongin)-based [16,[20][21][22][23] and chitin-based [23-34] 3D skeletal constructs, respectively.…”