Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Plant material or plant extract of undetermined constitution...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-12
2003-06-10
Tate, Christopher R. (Department: 1651)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Plant material or plant extract of undetermined constitution...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06576268
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to melanins, suitable to be used in food industry, pharmacy, medicine and bioelectronics.
The invention relates also to a process for production of a narrow molecular fraction of melanin from raw materials of vegetable origin, so called phytomelanin, which exhibits defined and reproducible physico-chemical properties and higher biological activity than that of known, described vegetable melanins, and which is suitable to be practically used in industry and pharmacology.
BACKGROUND ART
Melanins—a general name for groups of high-molecular black and brown pigments, arising in the course of oxidation and polymerisation of phenols. Melanins occur normally in nature, and they are one of the most often occurring zoochromes. They occur in hair, eyes, skin, inner organs and so they are essentially mostly localised in the surface parts of organisms. Coloration of dark seeds, berries, flower leaves, and plants, men suntan, skin of blacks, many kinds of animals is mostly due melanins, as mentioned, for example, in Nicolaus R. A.: Melanins, Hermann, Paris 1968, p. 310; Lyiach S. P., Ruban R. D.: Mikrobnyie melaniny, Nauka, Moscow 1972, p. 184; and Bidzilja N. I.: Svobodnyie radikaly v oblutschennykh rastenyiach i semenakh, Naukova dumka, Kiev 1972, p. 210. The term “melanin” itself originates from a Greek word, and it means “black”. Melanins are unique biopolymers which exhibit in a living organism protection function against UV radiation, ionising radiation, high and low temperatures. Melaninogenesis has been at present often presented as a complex adaptation of living organisms at the border of adaptability of life. It is possible to find unique examples of resistance of living organisms to geophysical and geochemical factors in extreme situations. These include first of all upland regions, where blackpigmented fungi constitute the only microflora at 4 to 5 km height, and also hot sandy and cold stony deserts of several regions [Lyiach S. P.: Mikrobnyi melaninogenez i yiego funktsii, Nauka, Moscow 1981, p. 274.; Ostrovskayia M., Dontsov A.: Fyziologitcheskyie funktsii melanina v organizme, Fyziologyia tscheloveka 1985, p. 670-679]. There are also organisms known which are stable when irradiated with sublethal doses of the order of 900 Krad. Inertness to &ggr;-radiation decreases with the pigment loss, too. The question of melanin function in paleobiologicali aspect is extremely interesting. Highly melanised fungi spores occur in great amounts unusually often in the layers of the beginning of at “Cretaceous period” when many species of animals and plants died out. This period is identical with the period of the Earth's crossing the “magnetic zero”, and thus of its inability to protect itself against cosmic radiation [Bidzilja N. I.: Svobodnyie radikaly v oblutschennykh rastenyiach i semenakh, Naukova dumka, Kiev 1972, p.210; Lyiach S. P.: Mikrobnyi melaninogenez i yiego funktsii, Nauka, Moscow 1981, p. 274; Ostrovskayia M., Dontsov A.: Fyziologitcheskyie funktsii melanina v organizme, Fyziologiya tscheloveka 1985, p. 670-679]. Hence, also a scientifically proven basis exists that melanins were the “beneficial” material which helped chemical evolution of some of polymeric prebiological structures. The above given possibility follows from the character of the process of synthesis of these substances, and from the properties of contemporary melanins. Great attention should be paid to the easiness with which are the pigments synthesized, when conditions are modelled which are supposed to have existed on the Earth in the period of origin of complicated substances from aromatic structures [Blois M. S.: Proischozhdenyie predbiologitscheskikh sistem, Mir, Moscow 1966, p. 494; Pavlovskayia T. E.: Abiogenez i natschalnyie stadii evolutsii zhizni, Nauka, Moscow 1968, p. 216; Blois M. S.: The melanins, their synthesis and structure, Photochem. and Photobiol. Rev. 3, 151, 1978: Swan G. A.: Current knowledge of melanin structure, Pigment cell, Vol.1, Harger, Basel 1973, p. 151].
Classification of Melanins
Depending on the biological subjects which synthesise them, melanins are divided in three basic groups: microbial, animal and vegetable. There exist also synthetic melanins which arise by autooxidation of 3,4-dihydroxydiphenylalanine (DOPA-melanin), as indicated, for example, by Mason H. S. in Pigment Cell Growth, Acad. Press, NY 1953, p. 235; Peers E.: Hystochemistry, IL, Moscow 1962, p. 640; Keretz D., Ann. intab. dermatol. din. esperimentele 1961, p. 268; and Thomas M.: Modern methods of plant analysis, Springer Verlag 1953, 4, p. 661. Microbial melanins are met only at some microorganisms, especially those belonging to the genera: Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Azatobaster (Azotobacter). These are black and brown, sometimes red-brown pigments which are, in general, insoluble in organic solvents, soluble in bases with non-specific spectral characteristics. Many facts prove that oxidation processes are the base for the origin of bacterial melanins. Attention should be paid to the fact that an absolute majority of microorganisms which synthesise the pigments, belong to aerobic forms. The animal melanins are localised in surface tissues—skin, hair, animal hair, feathers and retina. The vegetable melanins have been described only rarely. It is known that they occur in surface tissues of some seeds and fruits. Up to now three methods of vegetable melanins isolation are known and described, namely of the phytomelanin from Vitis Vinifera L. Nevertheless, the preparations are summary products showing broad spectrum of physico-chemical properties and, consequently, the product cannot be used as a drug base, as indicated in Zherebin J. L. et al.: Sposob polutschenyia vodorostvorimogo melanina, t. A. S. SSSR patent Nr. 939446, 1983; Sendega R. V., Venger L. A., Baklanova L. V.: Sposob polutschenyia enomelanina, patent A. S. SSSR Nr. 1345606, 1987; and Godzenko A. I. et al.: Sposob polutschenyia enomelanina, patent RU 07 09 93, bl. Nr. 33-36. The best described and known among the melanins is the so called synthetic melanin or DOPA-melanin which arises by autooxidation of 3,4-dihydroxydiphenylalanine (DOPA). The DOPA oxidation is going on in such a way and through such stages like the fermentative autooxidation of tyrosine in living organisms which results in the rise of animal and microbial melanins. A scheme of the process is given in Villee Claude A., Dethier Vincent G.: Biological principles and processes, Philadelphia-London-Toronto 1971, p. 822; and Brechtlová, Hal{haeck over (c)}á, Chandoga et al.: Lekárska biochémia I. (Medicinal biochemistry I), Asklepios 1992, p. 228.
Chemical Structure and Melaninogenesis
Chemical structure of natural melanins has not been established yet, because they have very complicated polymeric structure and type diversity. Therefore, we could not obtain exhaustive description even for those pigments which have been investigated for several years. At present no unanimous opinion exists on the problem which compounds correspond to the term “melanin”. Mason describes melanins as high-molecular polymers which arise in the course of enzymatic oxidation of phenols, especially of pyrocatechol, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, (DOPA) and 5,6-dihydroxyindole [Mason H. S. in Pigment Cell Growth, Acad. Press Inc., NY 1953, p. 235].
A related essay has been written by Nicolaus: “Natural melanins are complicated macromolecules which arise in the course of enzymatic oxidation of ortho-diphenols, mostly unsubstituted, such as 5,6-dihydroxyindole, pyrocatechinole and 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene” [Nicolaus R. A.: Melanins, Hermann, Paris 1968, p. 310].
Peers and Keretz describe melanin pigments arising in the course of oxidation of aromatic amino acids: tyrosine and dihydroxyphenylalanine [Peers E.: Hystochemistry, IL, Moscow 1962, p. 640; Keretz D., Ann. intab. dermatol. din. esperimentele 1961, p. 268]. Thomas proposes to consider as melanins only nitrogen containing pigments, i.e. derivatives of 5
Kereste{haeck over (s)} Ján
Kereste{haeck over (s)}, Jr. Ján
Venger Ljubov Andrejevna
Flood Michele C.
Kerestes, Jr. Jan
Tate Christopher R.
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