Medicinal Uses of the Enzymes Hemicellulase, Hyaluronidase and Lysozyme

Importance of the Enzyme Hemicellulase

Hemicellulase is a complex enzyme which is necessary for hydrolysing cellulose and various hemicellulosic materials like gums and plant fibres. It is manufactured from controlled fermentation of Trichoderma. The fermented material is passed through several fine filtration processes and concentrated. At last it is spray dried to get a fine free flowing material. It is a white coloured powder, soluble in water and insoluble in organic solvents.

English: Trichoderma reesei (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Uses: It is used as a digestive specially in the consumption of cereal food grains which contains high amount of non soluble polysaccharides. The highly viscous polysaccharides form complex with digestive enzymes and decrease their penetration to the substrates which result in poor digestion. This disorder is solved by giving hemicellulase with diet. It is also used in the treatment of excessive gas and bloating. It is also used for treating constipation and heart burn. It should be stored in well closed container in cool and dry place. It will be stable for 3 years.

Importance of the Enzyme Hyaluronidase

Hyaluronidase is a sterile, dry, soluble enzyme preparation, which is prepared from bovine testes and semen by fractional precipitation of aqueous extract and it is refined further by dialysis. It is sterilised by filtration and lyophilisation. It hydrolyses mucopolysaccharides of hyaluronic acid type.This enzyme is white or colourless and odourless.

It is highly soluble in water and insoluble in organic solvents. It acts on hyaluronic acid which is a mucopolysaccharide component of mucoprotein ground substance or tissue cement of tissue spaces. It reduces its viscosity of the tissues so that they become permeable to injected fluids. Due to this property, it is used to enhance the absorption rate and for reducing the discomfort caused by intramuscular and subcutaneous injections. It is used in hypodermoclysis as an aid to subcutaneous administration of large volume of parenterals.

Significance of the Enzyme Muramidase (Lysozyme)

Muramidase is also known as lysozyme. It is a crystalline mucolytic enzyme. It is present in tears, serum, lungs, leucocytes, different tissues and secretions of animals. It contains mainly arginine, aspartic acid, tryptophan and traces of tyrosine.

L-Aspartic acid (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It hydrolyses mucopolysachharides. It is active in transforming insoluble polysaccharides of cell wall to soluble mucopeptides, specially in gram positive bacteria. Because of this activity, it is administered intravenously for treatment of viral or bacterial infections.