ABSTRACT
Bacterial melanin, obtained from the mutant strain of Bacillus Thuringiensis, has been shown to promote recovery after central nervous system injury. It is hypothesized, in this study, that bacterial melanin can promote structural and functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury. Rats subjected to sciatic nerve transection were intramuscularly administered bacterial melanin. The sciatic nerve transected rats that did not receive intramuscular administration of bacterial melanin served as controls. Behavior tests showed that compared to control rats, the time taken for instrumental conditioned reflex recovery was significantly shorter and the ability to keep the balance on the rotating bar was significantly better in bacterial melanin-treated rats. Histomorphological tests showed that bacterial melanin promoted axon regeneration after sciatic nerve injury. These findings suggest that bacterial melanin exhibits neuroprotective effects on injured sciatic nerve, contributes to limb motor function recovery, and therefore can be used for rehabilitation treatment of peripheral nerve injury.
ABSTRACT
Melanins are widely used in medicine, pharmacology, cosmetics and other fields. Although several technologies for the purification of water-insoluble dioxyphenylalanine (DOPA) melanins have been described, a source of water-soluble melanin is highly desirable. Here we describe an effective procedure for the isolation and purification of water-soluble melanin using the culture medium of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. galleriae strain K1. Water-soluble melanin from this organism has an isoelectric point (pI=3.0-3.2) and was purified optimally by adsorbtion using the IA-1r resin and elution as a concentrated solution. The purified melanin obtained exhibited a similar infra-red absorbtion spectrum to synthetic melanin and contained quinolic and phenolic structures and an amino acid content of around 20% after acid hydrolysis. The molecular weight of the purified melanin determined by SDS-PAGE was 4 kDa and the electromagnetic spin resonance spectrum of the purified microbial melanin was a slightly asymmetric singlet without hyperfine structure with about 7 Gauss width of the line between points of the maximum incline and g=2.006. The concentration of paramagnetic centers in melanin is 0.21x10(18) spin/g. The results obtained provide a rapid, simple and inexpensive method for the large scale purification of water soluble melanin that may have widespread applications.
