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| Papain |
| Proteolytic enzymes are widely used in cell isolation. With some tissues papain has proved less damaging and more effective than other proteases. Lam (1972) found that of the enzymes used for dissociating turtle retina, papain produced the least trauma. Intact single photoreceptor cells have also been isolated from adult salamander retina with papain (Bader et al. 1978, Townes-Anderson et al. 1985). Huettner and Baughman (1986) descrbed a method using papain to obtain high yields of viable, morphologically intact cortical neurons from postnatal rats. Finkbeiner and Stevens (1988) applied the Huettner and Baughman method to the dissociation of postnatal rat hippocampus. Papain is used with fetal as well as postnatal brain regions to provide maximal dissociation and viability of neurons. |
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Papain is a protein-cleaving enzyme derived from papaya and certain
other plants. Enzymes are complex molecules produced in living
organisms to catalyze (speed up) chemical reactions within the cell.
A number of digestive enzyme supplements are available. The simple
ones are extracted from tropical fruits: bromelain from pineapple and
papain from papayas. Papain has a mild, soothing effect on the
stomach and aids in protein digestion. It is most often used as a
meat tenderizer. Though the exact area of origin is unknown, the papaya is believed native to tropical America, perhaps in southern Mexico and neighboring Central America. It is recorded that seeds were taken to Panama and then the Dominican Republic before 1525 and cultivation spread to warm elevations throughout South and Central America, southern Mexico, the West Indies and Bahamas, and to Bermuda in 1616. Spaniards carried seeds to the Philippines about 1550 and the papaya traveled from there to Malacca and India. Seeds were sent from India to Naples in 1626. Now the papaya is familiar in nearly all tropical regions of the Old World and the Pacific Islands and has become naturalized in many areas. Seeds were probably brought to Florida from the Bahamas. Up to about 1959, the papaya was commonly grown in southern and central Florida in home gardens and on a small commercial scale. Thereafter, natural enemies seriously reduced the plantings. The latex of the papaya plant and its green fruits contains two proteolytic enzymes, papain and chymopapain. The latter is most abundant but papain is twice as potent. In 1933, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was the leading commercial source of papain but it has been surpassed by East Africa where large-scale production began in 1937. The presence and effects of proteinases (now termed proteases) in papaya fruit (Carica papaya) latex have been well known since the 1750s (Brocklehurst et al. 1983). But it was not until the 1870's that the importance of papaya latex as a source of enzymes was recognized. Papain by far is the most widely studied of the cysteine enzymes because of its commercial value. |
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