Science & Technology

    Walailak University researcher Associate Professor Dr. Supatra Karnjanapratum, from the School of Management, discovered an effective way of increasing extraction efficiency of both collagen and collagen hydrolysates from alternative collagenous sources as clown featherback’s skin and bullfrog’s skin by using ultrasound-assisted process.

    Clown featherback and Asian bullfrog are commonly found in Asia, especially in Thailand, and are consumed as food protein resources. During cutting process, their skins were discarded and regarded as food waste.
 
    “At the market, the skin is peeled off before they are sold. Even though we can make crispy fried skin, fresh skin is very cheap costing only around 10 baht per kilogram. Being able to extract collagen from the skin will add more value to it,” said Dr. Supatra.

                               
                                                                                   Graphical abstract: Ultrasound-assisted extraction of collagen from clown featherback (Chitala ornate) skin: Yield and molecular characteristics                      
                                                                                                                                Supatra Karnjanapratum*, Tanyamon Petcharat, Soottawat Benjakul, Sitthipong Nalinanon

    By using the ultrasound technique under appropriate conditions, the researcher succeeds in increasing the yield of collagen, compared to the typical process in which acetic acid is used without the ultrasound machine. In addition, the combination of the ultrasound-assisted process with Papain, an enzyme from papaya latex, could enhance the production of collagen peptides which showed enhanced yield and bioactivity. These studies reveal the great opportunity to use these collagen and collagen hydrolysatesolysate as alternative additive or functional ingredient instead of land animal derivatives that possessed many limitations on their application due to diseases and consumers’ religion.

                                 
                                Graphical abstract: Impact of different ultrasound-assisted processes for preparation of collagen hydrolysates from Asian bullfrog skin on characteristics and antioxidative properties
                                                                                                    Sylvia Indriani, Thanasak Sea-leaw, Soottawat Benjakul, Tran Hong Quan, Supatra Karnjanapratum, Sitthipong Nalinanon
 
   The use of the ultrasound-assisted process is considered a green technology as fewer additional chemicals are required, and the process lessens the formation of hazardous compounds. Apart from being broadly employed in the beauty industries, collagen is used as biodegradable, such as food package; drug carrier, and function ingredient in cosmetics. Moreover, the small peptides of collagen hydrolysates with good solubility can be served as multifunction additives with various bioactivities that can be applied in food and pharmaceutical industries. 

    “Even though ultrasound has been used for decades and is not a new technology, being able to apply it with local materials ensures that our research is conducted sustainably and render the useful and the key information for the future research or study. This is the real value of the kind of basic research,” Dr. Supatra added.
    

Please click on the links below to read full articles:
Ultrasound‐assisted extraction of collagen from clown featherback (Chitala ornata) skin: yield and molecular characteristics - Petcharat - 2021 - Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture - Wiley Online Library

Impact of different ultrasound-assisted processes for preparation of collagen hydrolysates from Asian bullfrog skin on characteristics and antioxidative properties - ScienceDirect

Photos by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Supatra Karnjanapratum
Article by Settaboot Onphakdee