Haruan is a popular fish to eat in Malaysia and is thought to have wound healing properties due to the abundance of fatty and amino acids, which help blood clotting and reduce pain. When prepared as fillets, researchers cook the fish using distilled water in a pressure cooker. The fillets are discarded and the water extract left over is compounded into an aerosol spray.

Rabbits, mice and rats were used to examine Haruan water extract’s effect on skin, and the animals were then treated for incision and burn wounds with the extract in aerosol form. Two aerosol formulas were made using the water extract, one with fusidic acid and the other without. Those treated with the fusidic acid spray had a slower healing time as it inhibited the growth of scar tissue. Like many topical antibiotics, it is thought that fusidic acid is harmful to the wound healing cells.

The Haruan water extract spray without fusidic acid, however, was far more effective in helping collagen proliferate and fibroblast production. Specifically in burn wounds the spray keeps the wound site cool, reducing inflammation.

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C-Tech Innovation, a UK based technology development company, is leading the three year EXCIL project that involves collaboration with key stakeholders including Heineken UK, seafood processor West Coast Sea Products, GlycoMar Ltd.,  the Sea Fish Industry Authority, waste management firm SITA UK and Imperial College London.

The research is being by funded by a UK government agency, the Technology Strategy Board, with the stated objective being to provide a new approach to solving the environmental and financial costs involved in disposal of food and brewing waste through a sustainable and resource efficient method.

EXCIL is a 3 year project which started in October 2009.

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In January 2007, Deep Creek Custom Packaging Inc. of Ninilchik was fined $10,500 by the EPA, also for improperly disposing of fish waste.

Under Clean Water Act regulations, fish processors must grind their waste to a size of a half-inch or less before discharge. Even under proper disposal, however, fish waste can impact the environment by creating “dead zones,” essentially sucking out oxygen needed for live fish to thrive.

The crackdown on fish waste discharges is of special concern for small companies that process less than 25 tons per day that cannot afford the multi-million dollar price tags for equipment deployed at large-scale operations that separates, dries and grinds waste into fishmeal for sale as a byproduct to the agriculture and aquaculture industries.

This is where entrepreneurs like Sandro Lane and Leo Pedersen and scientists such as Scott Smiley and Peter Bechtel come in. Lane and Pedersen have found creative ways to simultaneously turn previously discarded fish waste into economically valuable products while aiding small processors.

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After 6 months’ treatment, patients receiving Viviscal® showed a mean increase in non-vellus hair of 38% compared with a 2% increase in the fish extract treatment group (P<0.0001). In the Viviscal group, 19 (95%) subjects showed both clinical and histological cure, whereas none treated with fish extract showed any clinical or histological difference after 6 months’ treatment (P <0.0001).

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Researchers at Zhejing Ocean University in Eastern China’s Zhejiang province have developed a process for producing protein/peptide from fish skin chelated with iron. They are cooperating with a local enterprise to commercialize the process.

The process employs a physical method rather than a chemical one for the deodorization of protein/peptide from fish skin and a chelating method for chelating iron with the protein/peptide. These two methods constitute the two distinct aspects of the process.

The fish skin they use is cod fish skin. But it can be from other low-value fishes. Thus the process provides a way for the comprehensive utilization of aquatic resources.

The product can be used as a kind of iron supplement for the prevention of iron deficiency anemia. It also shows certain antioxidant and antibacterial effects. It is sold in the form of food additive, capsules and tablets, etc.

Compiled and translated by “marinebio” from http://www.zskjj.gov.cn/show.asp?newsid=4073

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