STUDY OF THE MEDIUM CONDITIONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HYALURONIC ACID THROUGH CULTIVATION OF STREPTOCOCCUS ZOOEPIDEMICUS IN POLIURETANE FOAM

Abstract

This project aims the study of the hyaluronic acid (HA) production, by solid fermentation (SSF), through the Streptococcus zooepidemicus cultivation in polyurethane foam, in fixed bed reactor.The HA is a polysaccharide composed of disaccharidic units of D-glucuronic and N-acetylglucosamine linked by glycosidic bond ²-1-3. Hyaluronic acid occurs naturally in vertebrates, joints, vitreous humor, umbilical cord and cockscomb. Due to its physico-chemical, rheological, and biological properties HA has been widely used in medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetology.Currently, the worldwide market for HA is estimated at about US$ 1,000,000. Most of this comes from cockscomb. In general, HA is an imported product. The HA cost increases with its purity, molecular weight and polydispersity degrees. In view of this, the microbial route has become attractive due to the viral contamination risk from animal source materials, as well as due to the process control. In our group, researches about production of HA have begun in 2003, with the submerged fermentation, and in 2007 with the FES. Experimental results obtained during the candidate traineeship, for graduation, have showed that HA production in reactor filled with polyurethane foam is promising. The system is versatile, low cost, and facilitates the product extraction.This connection led to this proposal, which aims the study of optimizing the environmental conditions initial moisture and air flow rate. This study will be made through statistical design and analysis of response surface. In all conditions the metabolites such as lactic acid, acetic and formic acid, and the oxygen transfer will be analyzed to understand the phenomenological behavior. The AH obtained will be characterized by molecular weight and polydispersity. These results will contribute to HA production by FES, to development of new reactors and for training human resources in industry fields that still lacking in Brazil.