METHOD OF PROCESSING ANIMAL CARTILAGE AND PRODUCT PRODUCED

Abstract: A method of preparing finely divided cartilage powder from raw cartilage including the steps of mechanically trimming raw cartilage from an animal body, and granulating the raw cartilage into granules having an average size of from about 4 mm to 8 mm diameter. The granules are then subjected to azeotropic extraction, the extraction conducted with an extracting agent which both forms an azeotrope with water and solubilizes fat. The granules are then separated from the extracting agent, and milled to an average size of from about 40 to 70 microns in diameter. Also disclosed is a method of separating calcium compounds from cartilage including the steps of mechanically trimming raw cartilage from an animal body, granulating the raw cartilage into granules having an average size of from about 4 to 8 mm diameter, and partially drying the granules to produce a friable calcified outer layer on each granule. The granules are then subjected to mechanical agitation to pulverize the friable calcified outer layer and separated from the pulverized calcified outer layer.

Description: Method of Processing Animal Cartilage and Product Produced This invention pertains to cartilage extraction pro¬ cesses and products. More specifically, the invention rela to a process for preparing a biologically active cartilage product using raw animal or fish cartilage together with ad hering tissue as the starting material. The preparation of powdered cartilage products for va ous therapeutic applications is discussed in the prior art. Thus, U.S. Patent Nos. 3,772,432, Re. 28,093, 3,966,908 and 3,476,855 teach the preparation of pharmaceutical materials from raw cartilage. Cartilage harvested from animal bodies has substantial quantities of adhering proteinaceous and fatty tissues which are largely removed by mechanical trimming. For the prepara tion of pharmaceuticals the trimmed cartilage has to be further freed of the remaining foreign tissues. This is usu ally accomplished by digesting the trimmed cartilage in a solution containing a proteolytic enzyme which may be one or combination of pepsin, papain, trypsin or other enzymes in a dilute solution of hydrochloric or acetic acid. Typically, the enzyme-treated cartilage is washed with water, preferably distilled or deionized water, until no enzyme can be detected in the effluent. The cartilage at th point still contains 3 to 8% of fat and up to about 80% of water of hydration (depending on the cartilage source) . The washed, enzyme-treated cartilage is granulated in swing hammer mill or other suitable granulating equipment su as a shredder or by passing through the blades of a meat gri der. The purpose of this step is to increase the surface ar of the cartilage in order to facilitate the de-fatting and dehydration of the cartilage. Currently defatting and dehy¬ dration is accomplished in two stages: (1) the cartilage SHEET granules are immersed in several (3 to 5) times by volume of anhydrous acetone. The acetone removes the residual fat and partially dehydrates the cartilage; (2) the material from (1) is dried in a vacuum oven to reduce moisture content to less than 3%. The cartilage material is then pulverized in a cool ball mill with ceramic balls in the virtual absence of air or oxygen by flooding the free space in the mill with an inert gas. The grinding is continued until the desired particle size is obtained. The cartilage powder so obtained can be utilized in powder form or extracted at a temperature between about 3 ° to 4°C with distilled water or an aqueous salt solution which facilitates solubilization or peptizing of the cartilage material at low temperature. The solubilized cartilage ob¬ tained in this manner is not a true solution but rather is a colloidal dispersion containing between about 1 and 10% carti lage solids by weight. It has now been unexpectedly discovered that the car¬ tilage products described above can be prepared without the necessity of separate defatting and vacuum drying steps and that the enzyme-treated cartilage granules can be defatted an dehydrated by a single azeotropic extraction step. Another aspect of the present invention is the unex¬ pected discovery that the calcium content of shark cartilage granules can be removed easily by a simple mechanical agita¬ tion step conducted while the granules are only partially dried. Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention provide a method of processing animal cartilage without the necessity of separate defatting and vacuum drying steps. Another aspect of the present invention is a method of processing animal cartilage to remove calcium without the necessity of liquification and separation steps. The present invention involves a process for the pre¬ paration of cartilage products from raw animal or fish carti lage. As used herein, the term "raw cartilage" refers to cartilage from which the adhering tissues (primarily protein aceous and fat) have been trimmed but not completely removed Bovine cartilage (especially bovine tracheal cartilage) is a preferred raw material for use in the invention, however car tilage taken from other vertebrate animals including porcine and canine cartilage as well as cartilage from the partly calcified skeleton, including fetal skeleton, of very young newly born animals will also provide suitable results. Cartilage powder may also be obtained from cartilage sources such as pigs, lambs, goats, rodents, rib cage of crocodiles, birds, fish, etc. Reptile cartilage is particu¬ larly desireable in view of the ability of reptiles to regen erate their tissues and even their limbs. Cartilage from young animals or young or newly regenerated cartilage from older animals has also been found satisfactory for use in th present invention. Cartilage from mature animals in either the form or which would in maturity retain the cartilaginous form or which would in maturity ossify to bone may also be employed. Skeletal cartilage from fish, particularly the shark, has also been found to provide an especially satisfac ory raw material. Cartilage from the skeletons of shark or other carti¬ laginous fish may be used to prepare cartilage products in t same manner as bovine cartilage. However, in the case of th shark, the spinal column is the most convenient tissue to ha vest. Despite the fact that.in most sharks the vertebrae ar calcified to a considerable degree, they contain sufficient cartilage material to yield a useful product. While bovine trachea is a preferred source of raw cartilage, as it is the most readily accessible cartilaginous tissue in mammals, hya line or costal cartilage from other parts of the animal's bo may be utilized to produce satisfactory extracts. Sharks have no bones but only cartilage in their skel¬ etal structure. Depending on the age of the shark or its family within the species, the cartilage skeleton is covered with a calcified layer of from 5% to 80% of its weight. The SUBSTITUTESHEET gills have the least calcification while the spine has the most. Shark cartilage contains over 70% moisture and vir¬ tually no fat. Shark cartilage can be easily trimmed manual¬ ly, however, an additional enzyme treatment is usually desir¬ able in order to remove all adhering tissues. The raw cartilage may be prepared by any satisfactory means but generally is obtained by removing substantially all of the skin, ' integument and organs of the animal or fish and separating the cartilage. The separated and trimmed carti¬ lage, to which some proteinaceous tissue and fat will gener¬ ally still be adhered may be subdivided into chunks or used in whole form as removed from the animal. The size of the raw cartilage pieces to be employed in the invention is not criti¬ cal and is primarily dependent upon the dimensions of the reaction vessel in which the cartilage is to be processed. To obtain a pure, dry product it is desirable to remove protein and fat from the trimmed cartilage. The protein is removed by proteolytic digestion. Digestion is accomplished using a solution containing a proteolytic enzyme which may be one or a combination of pepsin, papain, trypsin or other enzymes, in a dilute solution of hydrochloric of acetic acid. However the acid solutions are not used with papain or trypsi as these enzymes are denatured by acid. After the cartilage • is separated from the enzymatic solution by washing with de- ionized or distilled water, the cartilage is granulated. The granules have an average diameter of from about 0.4 cm to 0.8 cm. An average diameter of about 0.6 cm is preferred. The granulated cartilage contains fat and has a high moisture content. In one embodiment of the present invention, fat and moisture can be removed simultaneously by azeotropic extrac¬ tion. Azeotropic extraction utilizes the properties of certai solvents to form a mixture with another liquid, the composi- tion of which does not change upon distillation. Thus, in th present invention, a solvent which is an effective defatting SUBSTITUTE SHEET 1 agent and forms an azeotrope with water, would be appropriat to use for azeotropic extraction. Any solvent which meets the above criteria can be used to perform the azeotropic extraction. Examples of suitable _ defatting solvents for use in the present invention include benzene, toluene, hexane and heptane. A particularly useful solvent for use in the present invention is toluene. Toluen is a good defatting agent. Lipids are soluble in toluene an toluene forms an azeotrope with water. The toluene/water azeotrope has a composition of 79.8% toluene and 20.2% water 1 0 and a boiling point of 85.0°C. If sufficient toluene is pro vided, all or substantially all of the moisture can be remov from the cartilage granules. The boiling toluene (at 85°C) carries the water vapor with it. The water is separated fro the toluene by a water trap and the toluene can thus be re¬ 5 used. Benzene and water form an azeotrope having a compositi of 91.1% benzene and 8.9% water, and a boiling point of 69.4 β C. Hexane and water form an azeotrope having a composi tion of 94.4% hexane and 5.6% water and a boiling point of 0 6l.6 β C. Heptane and water form and azeotrope having a compo ition of 87.1% heptane and 12.9% water, and a boiling point 79.2°C. The azeotropic extraction process of the present inven tion is useful for extracting fats and water from cartilage 5 granules, whether the granules have been enzyme-treated for. the removal of protein or not. The previous method of defatting and dehydrating the cartilage granules required separate defatting and drying steps as described above. For a typical batch of about 100 0 of granules, the defatting of granules by immersion in aceto is conducted for about 2 hours, followed by drying in a vacu oven at 100°C and at a vacuum of about 20 mm for about 10 hours to reduce moisture content to less than 3%. The prese invention, on the other hand, combines the defatting and deh 5 drating steps in a single azeotropic extraction lasting abou UTESKEST 5 hours for a batch of about 100 kg followed by a simple dry¬ ing step of about 60 minutes duration at 90-100°C and at a low-vacuum of 20 mm to remove the azeotropic solvent. Thus, the method of the present invention results in a time savings of about fifty percent. Another process of the present invention is the unex¬ pected discovery that the calcium content of shark cartilage granules can be removed easily by a simple mechanical agita¬ tion step conducted while the granules are partially dried. 0 Certain types of cartilage have a calcified outside layer. The calcium compounds must be removed from the proces¬ sed cartilage before the cartilage can be used therapeutical- ly. Currently, calcium compounds are removed from the proces¬ sed cartilage powder by placing the powder into solution and 5 using separation techniques to remove the calcium compounds from the cartilage powder. The cartilage powder is then re¬ moved from solution and dried. This process requires a rela¬ tively large expenditure of energy to dry the powder after the calcium compounds have been extracted. 0 It has now been unexpectedly discovered that the calcium compounds associated with the processed cartilage powder can be separated from the powder without the necessity of employ¬ ing liquid extraction techniques. Cartilage granules treated with a defatting agent such as acetone, toluene, hexane or heptane, are partially dried i 5 a convection vacuum oven for a short period of time. The semi-dry granules are tough and horny. However, the outside layer is calcified and friable. The semi-dry granules con¬ taining a calcified powder layer are subjected to mechanical agitation such as milling in a ball mill with ceramic balls 30 totalling twice the weight of the cartilage granules for a short time (approximately 15 minutes) or until the calcified layer becomes powdery, while the underlying cartilage materia remains partially unground. Consequently, the granules and -. - powdered calcium compounds are separated by sieving. The cartilage granules are then processed further to prepare vari ous cartilage products. This method of separating calcium compounds from cartilage granules is more economical in time and money than the prvious liquid extraction methods. The present invention is further illustrated by the following working examples which are not intended to limit th invention in any respect. Example 1 500 grams of well trimmed calf cartilage was granulated in a meat grinder at 6°C to form granules having an average diameter of 5mm. The granulated cartilage was then loaded into a 3-liter round-bottom distilling flask. Toluene was then introduced to the vessel in an amount equal to twice the weight of the cartilage (i.e. 1000 ml of toluene) . The vesse was equipped with a reflux condenser and a water trap. The vessel was then heated to the boiling temperature of the tolu ene, which was reduced to 85°C due to the toluene/water azeo¬ trope, and the boiling was continued until no more water was collected in the trap (3 hours) . The toluene containing the lipids was then separated from the cartilage. The cartilage granules were then washed with some (300 ml) of fresh toluene at 17°C and removed from the vessel. Residual toluene was stripped from the defatted and dehydrated granules by heating in a laboratory vacuum oven at about 80°C until all the tolu¬ ene odor has disappeared from the- granules, approximately 3 hours. Cartilage powder was obtained by grinding the dried and defatted cartilage granules in a ball mill to a desired parti cle size (preferably from 40 to 70 microns) under inert atmo¬ sphere. Nitrogen or CO2 are suitable for use in providing an inert atmosphere, but other inert gases can also be used. Example 2 The powder of Example 1 was prepared, but the cartilage was enzyme-treated before granulation. The raw cartilage was treated with an aqueous solution of 2.5% acetic acid and 0.4% pepsin, NF grade, obtained from City Chemical Co. , of New York, N.Y. The enzyme solution was introduced to the carti- SUBSTITUTESH^ ' lage in an amount equal to 2.5 times the weight of the carti¬ lage. The cartilage was exposed to the enzyme solution for 5 hours at 50°C with mild agitation provided by a mixer obtaine from Arde-Barinco of Mahwah, N.J. The enzyme-treated carti- lage was then washed with deionized water at 18°C until the p of the effluent water was 5.5 or higher. The washed cartilag was centrifuged at 5000 rmp for 5 minutes to remove adhering water. The cartilage was then granulated. In a second embodiment of the present invention, carti- 0 lage may be granulated and then freeze-dried to remove mois¬ ture. Optionally, a defatting agent can be used before freeze-drying. The defatting agent may also contribute to dehydration. Anhydrous acetone, for example, acts to remove fat from- the granulated cartilage and also partially dehydr- 5 ates the cartilage. The following example illustrates the defatting /freeze-drying process of the present invention for preparing cartilage powder. Example 3 1000 g of tiger shark cartilage from gills, hand tri - 0 med, was treated with 2.5 times its weight of an aqueous solu tion of 2.5%, acetic acid and 0.4% pepsin NF grade (obtained from City Chemical Co.) at 50°C for 5 hours with mild agita¬ tion provided by a mixer. The acid-pepsin treated cartilage was washed with deionized water at 18°C until the pH of the 5 effluent water was 5.5 or higher. The washed cartilage was placed in a basket centrifuge at 2000 rpm for 5 minutes to remove adhering water. The moist cartilage was then granul¬ ated in a meat grinder, coarse setting, to produce granules having an average diameter of 6 mm. The still moist cartilag Q granules were treated in a closed vessel with twice their weight of anhydrous acetone, for two hours with slow agitatio (turbine rotor at 30 rpm) . The acetone was then removed and the cartilage granules were dried for 20 minutes at 110°C in convection vacuum oven. The semi-dried granules were then - ς transferred to a Virtis freeze-drier and dried until the moi ture content of the granules dropped to 3.0% or lower, prefe SUBSTITUTESHEET ably to 0.5% or lower. The dried granules were then ground i a ball mill to fineness of 200-mesh sieve. Alternatively, the enzyme-treated granulated cartilage can be freeze-dried without first performing a defatting step and by acetone extraction. Example 4 Tiger shark cartilage was treated with acid-pepsin as i Example 3. The cartilage, was then granulated in a meat grinder at coarse setting. The still wet granules were then subjected to freeze-drying in a Virtis freeze drier, without acetone extraction. The dried granules were then subjected t ball milling as in Example 3. Example 5 Tiger shark cartilage was processed as in Example 3 up to the point of freeze-drying. The semi-dried granules were tough and horny; however, the outside layer was calcified and friable. The semi-dried granules were placed in a laboratory ball mill with ceramic balls totaling twice the weight of the cartilage granules. The granules were milled for 15 minutes at which point the calcified layer became powdery, while the cartilage granules remained virtually unground. - Consequently the granules were readily separated by sieving. The yield wa by weight of raw cartilage 80% cartilage granules containing 3.2% calcium phosphate. The semi-dried granules with reduced calcium content were then freeze-dried as in Example 3 and ground to a fineness of 100-mesh screen. The final products from the Examples are suitable for use as therapeutic food supplements. The products in which the cartilage was enzyme-treated before processing it to the final product, are suitable for use in the treatments of the various indications described in my previous patents. Thus, the powder of the present invention can be used as a wound- healing medicant as described in my previous U.S. Patent Re. 28,093, reissued July 30, 1974 from original Patent No. 3,400,199, dated September 3, 1968. The powder can also be used in dental applications including the treatment and pre- SUBSTITUTESHEET vention of dry sockets, gingival tissues and mandibular cyst- ectomies, as described in my previous U.S. Patent 3,772,432. The powder can also be used in the treatment of degenerative joint afflictions, such as osteoarthritis, as described in my earlier U.S. Patent 3,966,908. Example 6 This example illustrates one use for the processed car¬ tilage materials of the present invention. The preparation o a cartilage paste and its use for dental applications is il- lustrated. The figures given represent parts by weight. Stiff* Medium* Soft Calf cartilage powder of Example 2 70 50 30 Isotonic saline solution (0.9% NaCl) 30 50 70 * Refers to consistence characteristic of paste. The paste in each case was prepared by weighing out the cartilage powder and placing it on a glass plate. The saline solution was added gradually and under constant mixing with a spatula. When a homogeneous, well dispersed, lump-free paste was obtained it was ready for use. The paste is used by introducing it directly in the dry socket, approximately 70% of its depth. The medium consist¬ ency paste was found to be the most easy to apply and it stayed in the sockets for almost a day. The stiff paste was somewhat less effective in relieving the pain from dry sockets, but is resisted the action of saliva more than the medium paste and stayed in the socket two days. The soft paste was flushed out of the dry sockets by saliva within about two hours. The cartilage paste substantially stopped the pain from dry sockets in the dental patient within 15 to 30 minutes after application of the paste, the time being related to the consistency of the paste. The dry sockets so treated healed in a somewhat shorter time than is expected for normal extrac sockets to heal. When the dry sockets were closed with a dental adhesive bandage or with a suture in the gum flaps, t cartilage paste of all three consistencies stayed in the socket throughout the healing period. The cartilage paste has also been used to treat extrac tion sockets as a prophylactic measure. Such treatment pre¬ vents the occurrence of dry sockets in human beings. As previously indicated, the cartilage product has use in other dental applications such as treatment of gingival tissues and mandibular cystectomies. Thus, the cartilage paste has been inserted in the filling of tooth cavities in combination with the amalgam filling. Without the cartilage paste such cavities when closed with the filling result in extremely painful pressure developing in the cavity thereby frequently necessitating the reopening of the cavity and treating the exposed nerve before the cavity can be refilled again. The inclusion of the cartilage paste in the cavity elimintes any pain that would otherwise result from exposed nerves in the cavity. In the case of gingival tissues of various kinds, the cartilage past is spread with a dental spatula in a thin lay on the under surface of the tissue prior to its fixation. Alternatively, the cartilage product can be applied by the atomization of cartilage powder or cartilage extract with an appropriate atomizer to form a thin "frost" on the surfaces which are to be opposed. The cartilage, compositions described herein may be use alone or in combination with wound healing accelerators such as polymeric N-acetyl-glycosamine (e.g. chitin) eggshell pow der, etc. or antibiotics such as penicillin and other edica ments where it is desired to obtain some special additional effect. SUBSTITUTESHEET

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. A method of preparing finely divided cartilage powder from raw cartilage comprising the steps of: mechanically trimming raw cartilage from an animal body; granulating the raw cartilage into granules having an average size of from about 4 mm to 8 mm diameter; subjecting the granules to azeotropic extraction, said extraction conducted with an extracting agent which both forms an azeotrope with water and solubilizes fat; separating the granules from said extracting agent; and milling the granules to an average size of from about 40 to 70 diameter. 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising treating the mechanically trimmed cartilage with a proteolytic enzyme solution prior to said granulating step. 3. The method of claim 2 wherein said proteolytic enzyme solution is selected from the group consisting of pep- sin, papain, trypsin, pepsin and hydrochloric acid, pepsin and hydrochloric acid, pepsin and acetic acid, and combinations thereof. 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said animal is a shark. 5. A method of preparing finally divided cartilage powder from raw cartilage comprising: mechanically trimming raw cartilage from an animal body; granulating the raw cartilage into granules having an average size of from about 4 to 8 mm diameter; freeze drying the granules until the moisture con¬ tent of the granules falls below 3.0%; and milling the granules to an average size of from about 40 to 70 diameter. 6. The method of claim 5 further comprising treating SHEET the mechanically trimmed cartilage with a proteolytic enzyme solution prior to said granulating step. 7. The method of claim 6 wherein said proteolytic enzyme solution is selected from the group consisting of pep¬ sin, papain, trypsin, pepsin and hydrochloric acid, pepsin an acetic acid, and combinations thereof. 8. The method of claim 7 wherein said animal is a shark. 9. A method of separating calcium compounds from car- .._ . . tilage comprising: mechanically trimming raw cartilage from an animal body; granulating the raw cartilage into granules having an average size of from about 4 to 8 mm diameter; parti.ally dryi.ng said granules to produce a friabl calcified outer layer on each granule; subjecting said granules to mechanical agitation t pulverize said friable calcified outer layer; and separating said granules from the pulverized cal- cified outer layer. 10. The method of claim 9 wherein said drying is ac¬ complished by vacuum drying. 11. The method of claim 9 wherein said drying is ac¬ complished by azeotropic extraction. 12. The method of claim 9 wherein said drying is ac¬ complished by freeze-drying. 13. The method of claim 9 wherein said animal body is shark. 14. The method of claim 9 wherein said mechanical agit ation is accomplished by use of ball mill. 15. The method of claim 9 wherein said separating step is accomplished by sieving. 16. Finely divided cartilage powder derived from raw cartilage, comprising: freeze dried, granulated raw cartilage having a moisture content of less than 3.0%. EET 17. The cartilage powder of claim 16 milled to an aver¬ age particle size of from about 40 to 70 in diameter. 18. The cartilage powder of claim 16 wherein said gran¬ ulated cartilage has been subjected to treatment with a pro¬ teolytic enzyme solution prior to granulation. 19. The cartilage powder of claim 18 wherein said pro¬ teolytic enzyme solution is selected from the group consisting of pepsin, papain, trypsin, pepsin and hydrochloric acid, pepsin and acetic acid, and combinations thereof. 20. The cartilage powder of claim 16 wherein said raw cartilage is obtained from a shark. SUBSTITUTESHEET

Inventors: BALASSA LESLIE L, BALASSA, LESLIE, L.
Applicants: LESCARDEN INC, LESCARDEN INC.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: A61K35
IPC codes: A61K35, A61L27