The main source of antibiotics and antitumor drugs is nature, and the Cantabrian Sea is a true therapeutic treasure. And this is well known to scientists who make the most of the Asturian ocle (gelidium algae) in the form of agar to purify drugs and, routinely, to isolate, for example, DNA fragments. This gelatinous resource is behind vaccines, antibodies, insulin…
But not all ocle is the same nor does it have the same applications, starting with the extraction mode. That which is intended for scientific and sanitary environments must be free of impurities and is obtained by the so-called boot technique: it is collected on the seabed by professional divers, in specific periods, with quantities regulated by the Administration, always leaving a significant remaining biomass for regeneration.
Every year, the Administration checks the regeneration of the resource and adapts the quotas for its sustainability. In Asturias, 28 boats participate in this campaign between July 1 and September 30 (or earlier, if the maximum extraction quotas are reached), and three divers can go on each of these boats. In Cantabria another 14 boats have authorization.
The arribazón technique is different from the pulling technique: in this case, it is ocle that reaches the beaches especially in times of strong tides. Unlike the first red algae, with application in microbiology or biopharmaceutical processes, these usually contain other algae and impurities that prevent them from being able to work with them in fields other than food or cosmetics. Another notable difference is that there is no quota for those from arribazón; in fact, you can collect everything that the sea expels, although it is necessary to have the arribazón algae collector card together with the authorization to introduce the tractors to the beaches, among other requirements.
Thus, the ocle free of impurities and which is optimal for the manufacture of bacteriological agar and for use in microbiology culture media for diagnosis of diseases, is found on the high seas and its collection depends on the good work of divers. Last year, between Asturias and Cantabria, 5,222 tons of drained wet algae were collected; 5,057 in 2019, 5,670 in 2018, 6,118 in 2017… The challenge, in any case, according to the experts, is to maintain a “sustainable and respectful balance with the marine environment between both techniques, starting (boats) and landing (beaches). ) at a reasonable price, which is competitive against agar from Asia”.
And what is done with the ocle extracted by the ships? Germán González, purchasing manager of Hispanagar, an agar manufacturing company based in Burgos (Castilla y León), is one of the first to participate in the complex process. The dried seaweed is transported in trucks to the factory in Burgos. “At the Burgos plant we obtain agar agar, a product very similar in appearance to wheat flour, with a yellowish colour. This polysaccharide is found in the cell wall of the algae, and we carry out an extraction process”, he explains.
The dried seaweed is put into large pressure tanks, a kind of giant pressure cooker. “The agar agar passes from the walls of the algae to dissolve in the extraction water. Once in solution, the liquid is purified by a filtration process and allowed to cool: hot agar is always liquid, but when cooled it forms a gel. From there we make some agar agar scrolls that are taken to the dryer and ground and then sieved. The final product is a flour”, emphasizes González, who emphasizes the importance of selecting the type of algae.
The ocle must arrive at the plant without impurities or foreign algae to make bacteriological agar. Hence the relevance of the starting technique. Due to its impurity content, the arribazón seaweed inhibits the growth of microorganisms and is only suitable for food applications.
With the gelidium alga extracted and powdered, for example, companies that manufacture culture media for clinical diagnosis, such as Condalab, located in Madrid, come into play. This firm, with Beatriz López as quality control director, buys the powdered agar, makes a balanced and precise mixture of other ingredients of the culture medium, mainly peptones, to make only a specific type of bacteria grow. The medium can be sold as a powder to reconstruct or in a Petri dish (round plastic container with the medium incorporated) for direct use. End users are companies and hospitals for food safety checks and disease diagnosis. The ocle, then, is already scientific magic.
End users number in the dozens. Among them is the Center for Research in Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology (CINN). Mario Fernández Fraga, research professor at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) who leads the CINN Epigenetics and Nanomedicine group and is responsible for the Cancer Epigenetics and Nanomedicine group at the Institute for Health Research of the Principality of Asturias (ISPA), knows well the benefits of agar agar. “It is used daily in laboratories around the world. We get a white powder that is mixed with water, heated and creates a kind of translucent jelly. With that gelatin we make some sort of wells in which we put DNA samples that we want to separate and start the process”, explains the scientist, who points out that his students begin very early to deal with this agar from ocle, which is a collected therapeutic treasure. by divers in the Asturian Bay of Biscay.
Cantabrian Gold
- Gelidium algae is a red algae that belongs to the Rhodophytas division. It is up to 50 centimeters in size and grows in cold water seas, on rocks, in areas highly exposed to waves.
- Gelidium algae can be collected in two ways: on the seabed by professional divers (snatching) and on the beaches by algae collectors (arrival). The use of the former is mainly to obtain drugs for gene therapies, including vaccine purification, insulin manufacturing, and DNA isolation and replication. The arribazón agar is used in food (sweets, desserts, sauces…) and in cosmetics.
- In the starting technique, regulated by the Administration, 28 boats authorized in Asturias and 14 in Cantabria participate. Each boat can go up to three divers.