Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Preparations characterized by special physical form – Food or edible as carrier for pharmaceutical
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-02
2001-07-17
Jones, Dwayne C. (Department: 1654)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Preparations characterized by special physical form
Food or edible as carrier for pharmaceutical
C424S489000, C424S498000, C426S001000, C426S002000, C426S072000, C426S805000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06261590
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the enrichment of fish food including rotifers, Artemia, copopods and other live prey foods with nutrients essential for fish larvae including essential amino acids, vitamins and highly unsaturated fatty acids. The invention further relates to the bioencapsulation of antibiotics or other medicines used to treat fish.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The rapid expansion of the aquiculture of fish and shrimp has been slowed by the persistent difficulties in raising larval fish such as sea bream, sea bass, mullet, halibut and striped bass. Fish require live prey during the larval stage of development. To be acceptable to larval fish the prey must be the proper size, shape and be palatable. The live prey must also be available at an acceptable price and quality, be amenable to culture on a commercial scale and not present other problems to the fish hatchery such as contamination of the larval fish rearing tanks. The favored live prey of fish hatcheries for larval fish has included rotifers, Artemia nauplii and copopods, although other types of live prey have also been used as food. A problem with Artemia is that the nutritional composition of the Artemia is determined by the nutritional composition of the Artemia eggs before the Artemia hatches and, in turn, the nutritional composition of the Artemia laying the eggs. In addition the quality of commercially available Artemia eggs is decreasing due to increased demand. With Artemia, the nauplii are fed to the larval fish shortly after hatching and before the nauplii have the opportunity to grow.
In addition to requirements of energy and protein, marine larval fish also require highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) as essential fatty acids. In the wild, marine larval fish obtain their requirements of HUFAs from copepodites and marine algae. Within the group of highly unsaturated fatty acids, larval marine fish require more docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) than eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) as an essential fatty acid. Some species of fish may also require arachidonic acid (ARA) as an essential fatty acid. The enrichment of Artemia with HUFA has been reported using enrichment techniques with microparticle diets and emulsions rich in n-3 HUFA esters or using algal species rich in n-3 HUFAs. A problem with these microparticle diets and emulsions is the high cost of the fish oil used to enrich the microparticles with the HUFAs. Another problem is that the oil droplets have a limited capacity to load various nutrients into the droplet and are totally unsuitable for carrying water soluble nutrients such as essential amino acids.
The enrichment of Artemia nauplii using algae has many problems. One problem is that the algae can contribute to fouling of the larval rearing tanks. See C. M. Hernandez-Cruz et al. Larvi '95 Fish and Shellfish Larviculture Symposium pp 511-514, herein incorporated by reference, reporting that enriching rotifers with lipid emulsions leads to an increase in the number of bacteria associated with the rotifers which may affect the bacterial flora of the larval rearing tank.
J. O. Eujemo et al. in Larvi '95 Fish and Shellfish Larviculture Symposium pp 109-110 report that “docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), is more important than eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) for the physiological function of marine fin fish larvae, including survival, growth and pigmentation success. However, contrary to other live feeds, the enrichment of Artemia with DHA is difficult because of the inherent catabolism of the latter fatty acid upon enrichment. These problems, as well as others, have prevented the enrichment of live feeds with DHA.”
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a method of enriching Artemia and other live prey with HUFA, increase the ratio of DHA to EPA and produce an enriched Artemia or other live prey.
Another object of the invention to use HUFA soap powders to enrich rotifers, Artemia and other live prey.
A still further object of the invention is to use HUFA soap powders to encapsulate essential amino acids, drugs, vitamins and other nutrients.
A still further object of the invention is the use of HUFA soap powders as a feed additive to a microparticle diet for larval fish.
A further object of the invention is to utilize HUFAs recovered from a waste stream.
A still further object of the invention is to use HUFA-containing soap powders as vehicles for the bioencapsulation of drugs, vitamins, carotenoids, pigments and essential amino acids in prey for administration to larval fish.
These and other objects of the invention have been achieved by the invention are hereinafter described.
In sum, we have discovered that Artemia and other live prey is enriched with HUFAs and that the ratio of DHA to EPA is increased by feeding the live prey dried soap powders containing HUFA. In this manner, we have avoided prior art problems associated with enriching live prey with HUFAs. After the live prey has ingested or absorbed a sufficient amount of the desired fatty acids the prey is then fed to the larval fish.
The live prey that can be enriched with the HUFA soap powders include Artemia nauplii, rotifers and copepods. After enrichment, the live prey generally has a ratio of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) greater than about 1:1. Preferably, the ratio of DHA to EPA is greater than about 1.5 to 1.0 and even more preferably the ratio to DHA to EPA is greater than about 2.0 to 1.0 after enrichment of the prey.
Enrichment of live prey with HUFA can be easily accomplished by feeding the live prey with highly unsaturated fatty acid soap powders which can be made from the lipids extracted during the alkaline wash of fish and algae oils. The alkaline wash removes the free fatty acids and phospholipids from the derived oils and is usually discarded as a waste material. The highly unsaturated fatty acid soaps, as an aqueous alkaline solution, can also be obtained from Martek Bioscience of Columbia, Md. as a byproduct of Martek's polyunsaturated fatty acid extraction process from marine algae. These fatty acids are extracted during the winterization and alkaline working of algae oils by Martek or the winterization and alkaline washing of crude fish oils.
The normal counter-ion in the soap is usually sodium but other counter-ions such as potassium and calcium can also be used as well as mixtures of these counter-ions. Calcium is a preferred counter-ion because calcium soaps are highly insoluble in water and larval fish require calcium for bone development. The choice of counter-ions can also be determined by the needs of the larval fish as well as the ability of the live prey to absorb the fatty acid in the presence of the counter-ions.
The high unsaturated fatty acid soap powder should have a ratio of about 1 to 1 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), preferably, greater than bout 1.5 to 1.0, and a ratio of than about 2.0 to 1.0 is most preferred.
The fatty acid composition of the soaps can be varied but preferably comprise; from about 8% to about 16% C14:0, from about 0.75% to about 2.50% C16:1&ohgr;7, from about 9% to 13% C16:0, from about 7.5 to 10.5% C18:2&ohgr;6, from about 30 to 55% C18:1&ohgr;9, from about 0.01% to about 2.5% C18:1&ohgr;7, from about 2% to about 4.5% C20:4 and from about 8.5 to about 28% C22:6&ohgr;3. However, it should be emphasized that the composition of the soap can be varied depending on the nutritional needs of the larval fish species.
The aqueous alkaline solution of fatty acid soaps can be dried and converted into a soap powder by a conventional spray drying process. The hydrated particle size can vary but should be no larger than about 10 microns, preferably less than about 7.5 microns, and most preferred is a particle size in the range of about 1 micron to about 5 microns. Any conventional counter-ion can be used but sodium and potassium are preferred and most preferred is calcium. Calcium is preferred since calcium salts of soaps are much more insoluble in water and because the calcium is
Harel Moti
Ozkizilcik Sureyya
Place Allen R.
Delacroix-Muirheid C.
Hultquist Steven J.
Jones Dwayne C.
University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
LandOfFree
Methods for the enrichment of live feed with nutrients... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Methods for the enrichment of live feed with nutrients..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Methods for the enrichment of live feed with nutrients... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2454547