Biomimetic Materials as Potential Medical Adhesives – Composition and Adhesive Properties of the Material Coating the Cuvierian Tubules Expelled by Holothuria dofleinii - Biomaterials: Physics and Chemistry - page 257

on the tubule surface and release their contents on contact with a surface (VandenSpiegel
and Jangoux, 1987) leading (in whole or in part) to the observed adhesion. Histology has
shown that these granules contain protein and lipid, but lack polysaccharide
(VandenSpiegel and Jangoux, 1987). Biochemical studies have indicated that the granules
contain a protein of around 10 kDa, and it has been suggested that polymers of this protein
account for the higher molecular weight proteins that are seen in the adhesive prints
(Flammang and Jangoux, 2004), but this seems highly unlikely in H. dofleinii as the protein
bands are very well resolved by gel electrophoresis and the calculated molecular weights of
these bands do not conform to such a regular series of increases.
Our present study emphasises that the adhesives of natural systems are optimised for the
specific environments in which they have evolved, such as the present marine environment.
An analogue intended for medical use would need to be optimised to yield maximum
adhesion in the physiological conditions that prevail in mammalian tissues. In the present
case, the adhesion works better at higher NaCl concentrations that found in medical
applications so understanding more about the mechanism and the protein structures and
properties will be needed in order to adapt this system for applications where lower NaCl
concentrations are present.
5. Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Nicole Murphy for assistance with Holothurian collection and Dr Anita
Hill for helpful discussions. This study was facilitated by access to the Australian Proteome
Analysis Facility supported under the Australian Government's National Collaborative
Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). The project received support from the CSIRO
Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship.
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