Potential screening of butyrate type of polymer obtained from Alcaligenes latus

Abstract

Objective: There has been considerable interest in the development of biodegradable polymers such as poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) from bacterial origin which could help in solving probable problems due to the use of synthetic polymers. Many synthetic polymers are being used now-a-days in drug delivery systems. However, synthetic polymers have certain disadvantages such as their nonbiodegradability and so probability of bioaccumulation. Such accumulations for long time in body are harmful. This explains a need of easily biodegradable and a biocompatible polymer. Bacteria can synthesize a wide range of biopolymers which are biodegradable, biocompatible and have material properties suitable for medical applications. Bacterial polymers such as PHB are found to be functionally more effective and can be better for use in the pharmaceutical field. Materials and Methods: These studies started with screening of better producer of PHB from soil. This study represents a work on screening of bacterial isolates capable of producing PHB, and production of PHB using laboratory scale fermentation procedures. Using nutrient agar, we could screen four bacteria from soil, capable of producing PHB, using Sudan black-B staining. We also used a pure bacterial culture of Alcaligenes latus obtained from Microbial Type Culture Collection Chandigarh as a producer of PHB. Results: Out of these five bacterial isolates, A. latus found to produce PHB in relatively more amounts yielding about 55%. We used A. latus for production of PHB in large quantity. The morphological tests, physiochemical assessment, and characterizations of finished polymer were carried out. PHB shows viscosity 0.7993 (Pa.s), sharp peak arouse at 176.12°C in differential scanning calorimetry analysis, 235.8 nm λmax, successive Fourier transform infrared analysis, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and microscopic imaging analysis (scanning electron microscope [SEM]) were performed to get satisfactory reasoning for confirmation. Conclusion: PHB was used for formulating various formulations and was found to give good results, hence was concluded to be a better polymer in the pharmaceutical field.