Studies In Depilation Ii. Structural Ohanges in the Wool Follicle During Bacterial Wool Loosening ("Sweating")

Abstract

The changes in the various structural components of the wool follicle during the "sweating" process were followed by histological staining of sections prepared from the skin at appropriate intervals. Tissue breakdown starts in the lower part of the outer root sheath, progresses up the sheath, and ultimately involves the epidermis. The epidermis usually separates from the underlying dermis at a certain stage in the depilation process before the epidermal cells start to disintegrate. The gradual breakdown of the cells of the wool root bulb is an integral part of the wool� loosening process. The inner root sheath, the elastic tissue, and the fat cells are all broken down during depilation, but this is incidental to, and not the cause of, the loosening of the wool fibre. Sulphated mucopolysaccharides are gradually removed from the skin during depilation.

De‐hairing activity of extracellular proteases produced by keratinolytic bacteria

“…The skins were prepared for histological analysis as described elsewhere 5. Pieces were fixed in 10% (w/v) formaldehyde in 0.1 mol dm −3 phosphate buffer at pH 6.5 for 3 days.…”

“…A large number of bacteria grow on skins during the wool loosening process, however, only a few these contribute to wool loosening 5. Early studies using fungal and bacterial enzymes for depilatory purposes on sheepskins revealed a high correlation between depilatory activity and proteolytic activity 6.…”

Enzymatic Depilation of Animal Hide: Identification of Elastase (LasB) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa MCM B-327 as a Depilating Protease

“…The use of microbial enzymes, especially extracellular proteases have proved to be highly effective in depilating of animal hides [6] . Though a number of bacterial and fungal strains are known to grow on hides, only a few of them have been shown to produce extracellular proteases with depilatory activity [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] . In principle, the proteases having high depilatory properties with mild or no collagenolytic activity are considered to be the best proteases for depilating animal hide [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] .…”