Hyaluronic acid and collagen extraction from chicken combs

Abstract

Poultry industry is a rising agricultural activity, demanding new alternatives for thevalorisation of the generated by-products. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is an important biopolymerwhich is present in high concentrations in chicken combs. It plays many important roles in thehuman body, such as in the extracellular matrix, in the skin, in cartilage, in synovial fluid, infertilization, among others. HA can be used in medical and cosmetic industries withapplications for tissue engineering, wound healing, aesthetic treatments, adhesions and scarreduction, molecule delivery, control of stem cell behaviour and ophthalmology. Collagen isone of the most important proteins, having many medical applications as a biomaterial, such asin tissue engineering, in drug delivery systems, in ophthalmology, in wound healing, and others.This thesis aimed to investigate the possibility and optimization of a conjoint extractionof HA and collagen from chicken combs. Extraction optimization was based on Fast ProteinLiquid Chromatography analyses, which was also used to confirm the integrity of extractedcollagen. In the optimized extraction methodology, chicken combs were subjected to adelipidation process with acetone, followed by three consecutive extractions with 0.5 M aceti cacid for 24 hours, at 4 ºC, which allowed the conjoint extraction of HA and collagen withextractions yields of 0.06 % and 2.71 % in terms of dry weight, respectively. Fourier TransformInfrared Spectroscopy and Differential Scanning Calorimetry confirmed the presence of bothHA and collagen type I in lyophilized powders.HA and collagen can thus be viably extracted from chicken combs, with many possibleapplications in the biomedical field.

Date of Award	14 Nov 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Manuela Pintado (Supervisor), Ana Leite Oliveira (Co-Supervisor) & Ana Raquel Madureira (Co-Supervisor)