I really wonders about the new information about presence of chitin from fish scales in some recent papers . As per my knowledge fish scale is made up of collagen and calcium salts. Fish scales are comparatively strong composition simple alkali treatment for short duration will not remove protein completely. hence it interpreted as nitrogen containing chitin fragments,
Hi,
Yes, chitin is present in fish scales. Fish scales (Labeo rohita, catfish, red snapper, clarias gariepinus, parrotfish etc.) are good source of chitin as well as chitosan.
Please see this article:-
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270542041_Extraction_and_Characterization_of_Chitin_and_Chitosan_from_Labeo_rohit_Fish_Scales
Dear Madam,
I had been working on chitin related field for the last 15 years. The presence of chitin in fish scale is big blunder. Many persons with out the knowledge of fish scale simply presenting the findings in some journals with the help of FTIR SEM Images, XRD etc. and luckily it got published also. these wrong concepts are cited by many recent papers. To discuss these matter in open forum I put this discussion. Thanks for your inputs.
K.A. Martin Xavier
Dear Sir,
Few researchers have reported the existence of endogenous chitin in vertebrates with the help of Zebra fish model in Reputed Journal like "Current Biology" (Impact Factor 9.193). They also have extracted a polysaccharide from scales of salmon that exhibited all the chemical hallmarks of chitin. For more information please click on the link below-
Article Chitin Is Endogenously Produced in Vertebrates
Thank you.
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