FR2517964A1 - Chrysalis oil prodn. from pupae - by storage and pressing at low temp. - Google Patents

Abstract

Prodn. of crystalis oil (I) is carried out by removing the living pupae from the cocoons, storing them at 0-4 deg.C for at least 4 days, and pressing them at low temp. to recover oil and aq. fluid. (I) may be used for cosmetic purposes. The process does not damage the biologically active materials in the oil, e.g. metamorphic and juvenile hormones, sterols, protein-synthesis activators and enzymes such as protein kinase.

Description

The present invention relates to a new process for preparing chrysalis oil, in particular silkworm oil (Bombyx Mori nymph).

Until today, the silkworm (Bombyx Mori), whatever the country, is educated schematically as follows.

At a temperature of 250C, the eggs give birth to young worms in 15 days (hatching variations depending only on the local temperature and certain specific treatments).

These young worms, in a silkworm factory, and always at the same temperature, will carry out in 25 days 4 moults, changing each time their skin and head. During this period, each worm, suffering from a real "bulimia", consumes each day in 3 or 4 meals, 40 grams of mulberry leaves.

After about a month, the worms make, thanks to their serigdal glands, their cocoon, by making their thread (one and a half kilometers long) perform forty thousand kinds of eight. Inside the cocoon, the chrysalis (the last molt) waits to become a butterfly (last metamorphosis).

It is then that in order to avoid the transformation of the chrysalis into a butterfly, we proceed as follows a) in certain countries, particularly in the Far East, fe
work is done in an artisanal way. The cocoons,
removed from the cocooning baskets are placed in bulk in
large baskets. The breeder's wife puts boiling water
read in a large pot into which she throws a
thirty cocoons whose gum softens. It stirs
all these cocoons with a large bamboo clip. This
clamp is intended to grip a few wires, and this is the
reeling ceremony. A child picks up the pupae
scalded and throws new cocoons. Some nymphs
are eaten on the spot, the others are sold at the market.

To obtain the chrysalis oil, we press the chrysali
scalded and liron recueilis oil that floats.

7 Industrially (Japan, India, Italy etc ...), cocoons
containing the pupae are placed in an oven
75 C. The pupae are thus both dried and dried.

To obtain the chrysalis oil, we use either the
pressure, with decantation, i.e. a solvent: sulfide
carbon, methanol, ether etc
The chrysalis oil, in particular that of the silkworm has been used in various fields, in particular in traditional medicine in China and in Italy, and has often been proposed in cosmetics, (See for example "New skin bioactivators to base of hormonal extracts of butterfly nymphs "by G. HUNGER-RICCI, Parf. Cosm. Sav., vol 6 -n03, .March 1963, according to a communication presented at the XVIth International Congress of Aesthetics and Cosmetology, Paris, May 18-21, 19623.

Indeed, this oil is extremely rich in biological growth activators and several researchers have succeeded in isolating 3 main hormonal factors, namely the metamorphosis hormone, the activation hormone and the juvenile hormone, which can explain the extremely rapid passage from being a nymph to that of a butterfly having a much greater structural and functional complexity.

We have now found a new process for preparing chrysalis oil, which can be used especially in humans, especially in cosmetics.

The method according to the invention is characterized in that the chrysalis are extracted alive from their cocoon, kept at a temperature ranging from 0 to 40C for a period of at least 4 days, pressed at low temperature and in that their oil is collected at the same time as their water.

The extraction of the silkworm pupae from their cocoons can be advantageously carried out using a Japanese device which has been designed for the genetic study of Bombyx mori and its improvement. (COCON CUTTING MACHINE - Japanese).

The extraction is preferably carried out approximately 8 days after the completion of the cocoon, at a stage called "black eye". It is at this time that the nymph is the richest in active substances.

According to a variant, the storage of the pupae at low temperature can also be carried out before their extraction from the cocoon, the main thing being to keep them for a period of at least 4, and preferably 4 to 6 days at low temperature.

During this period, very significant metabolic changes occur in the pupae, which have been described for all living tissues first by FILATOV in S933-and bran (tissue therapy, Tashkent, 1948, etc .;) , then by many researchers mainly Russians, in particular enzymatic modifications of dehydrase, cytochromidase, doubled activity of protease etc ... But what seems the most important is the appearance of an increase in soluble proteins as well as other water-soluble substances. This water-soluble fraction is therefore very important, since it contains the biological activators sought for use.

This is why it is essential to collect not only the fats and oil from the adipose body of the pupa, but also its water, which can be used separately.

At the outlet of the press, there is therefore a mixture of oil and water which can, if desired, be transformed directly into an emulsion, cream or gel, for cosmetic use.

This can be easily achieved by simple threshing thanks to the high protein level of the extract with the possible addition of an emulsifier, for example lecithin which is a phospholipid compatible with the biochemistry of the skin.

The physical qualities of this emulsion can be varied by means of various additives according to the usual techniques of perfumery and cosmetics (antioxidants, preservatives, etc.).

The oil and water of pupae obtained according to the invention or the emulsions which are prepared therefrom are particularly rich in active substances, hormones and other biological activators.

EXAMPLE
The pupae are extracted from 1 kg of silkworm cocoons (8 days after the completion of the cocoon) using a Japanese JE COCON CUTTING MACHINE. We obtain 168 g of chrysa lidesq We place them in a refrigerator at around 10C for 5 days, still at low temperature, the pupae are pressed and 23 g of oil and 71.4 g of pupa water are obtained after decantation and filtering.

Biochemical analysis shows that the various hormones (metamorphosis and activation hormones and juvenile hormone) are preserved, in addition to the usual sterols such as p-sisterol, and the biological activators promoting protein synthesis.

Furthermore, the enzymes are not denatured, in particular the GMPc dependent protein kinase. These different activators are obtained in a much larger proportion than in the chrysalis which have not been treated according to the invention.

After addition of preservative, antioxidant and lecithin to the liquid obtained above and threshing, a gel can be prepared directly usable in cosmetics. It is also possible to use the oil and water of pupae separately in the usual cosmetic compositions (creams, lotions, gels, sprays, etc.).

Claims (5)

Claims 1. Process for the preparation of chrysalis oil, process characterized in that the living chrysalis are extracted from their cocoon, they are stored at a temperature of 0 to 40C for at least 4 days, they are pressed at low temperature and their oil is collected at the same time as their water. 2, Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the extraction is carried out 8 days after the completion of the cocoon. 3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the pupae are extracted from their cocoon after their conservation at temperature from 0 to 40C. 4. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the pupae are kept at low temperature for 4 to 6 days.  5. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the collected liquid is directly transformed into an emulsion usable in cosmetics.