Outside Japan, the agricultural market is the most developed of any for chitin and chitosan. Chitin and chitosan have three potential uses in agriculture: as a seed treatment, a nematocide, and a feed ingredient.

Seed treatment : Chitosan acts in two ways to protect seeds: as a ftmgistatic agent and as an inducer of genes m plants that help the plants to resist disease. Seeds treated with chitosan grow into plants with larger root systems, fuller crowns and stronger stems. Because of these effects, me plants can take up the maximum amounts of nutrients and moisture. Soil erosion is also reduced. In addition, chitosan treatment reduces the chances that plants will fall over, or lodge to use the technical term. Root-rotting pathogens such as Pseudo eercospore 11 a heipotnchoides cause lodging. Chitosan does not prevent the actual infection, but it does reduce the amount of damage caused by this agent. However, chitosan does not protect plants from all disease-causing agents. It does not, for example, act against the effects ofCephalosporium stripe on wheat.

Chitosan's antifungal ability could permit farmers more flexibility in their planting schedules. When they use conventional methods of controlling disease, they often plant at the best time to minimize disease, rather than during optimum growing conditions. In addition, chitosan costs about half as much as chemical fungicides.

The use of chitosan can increase crop yields by up to 50%. Studies have shown that up to 20% of that increase stems from physiological changes in the plants, while the remainder is caused by the elimination of losses caused by fungi. Alternatively, the solution can be sprayed on the soil or the plant's leaves.

Nematocldes : Chitin stimulates the growth of microorganisms in the soil, such as actinomycetes, bacteria and fungi, which produce chitinase and other enzymes. The enzymes destroy the eggs of plant-pathogenic nematodes that attack several important cash crops, including cotton, vegetables, fruit trees, citrus fruits and berry bushes. Nematodes act on the plants' root systems, reducing yields and sometimes killing the plants.

Direct treatment with chitin could act against nematodes, but that would be too expensive. Instead, two forms of nematocide that involve a chitin protein complex mixed with urea and other components have been successfully tested. One is already on the market. The other has received regulatory approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In each case, a single application of the substance is normally sufficient to protect crops from nematodes for a full season. The products are applied by tilling them into the soil six to eight inches below the surface between two and four weeks before planting. For bulk soil treatment, of fragments of human tooth roots have shown that four water-soluble derivatives of chitin can activate the promeration of cells of the periosteum; which can or will double the rate cell adhesion and regeneration. Researchers in Italy are investigating the use of chitin derivatives to encourage healing m room extraction sites and in cases oi periodontal disease.

Orthopedics : Chitin has shown strong possibilities in orthoDedics as an agent that helps bones to heal. Investigations are in the early stages m research laboratories but the studies have shown promise.

Filaments and rods of chitin also have the potential to be applied as temporary artificial ligaments for knees and other orthopedic applications that require less rigid fixation. The target area slowly absorbs the chitin products, which consequently lose their tensile strength while natural bone healing occurs.

Because chitin and its derivatives are biodegradable and absorbed in the body, they have a range of other potential applications in orthopedics. They could, for example, coat the surfaces of synthetic implants, making them biologically compatible with the body to which they are introduced. Similar applications in which the biodegradability of chitin derivatives can be of value include coating catheters to prevent infections in arthroscopy, and similar coating of blood dializers, heart valves, heart-lung machines and left ventricular assist devices.

Chitosan has another property of major importance to medicine and to its potential for finding a significant niche in the medical market: It acts as a scavenger of fat. The biopolymer binds to excess fat at the pH encountered in the stomach, and precipitates out fat at the pH in the duodenum. What this means is that chitosan traps both fat and cholesterol and causes them to be excreted. This opens the way to applications in the treatment of obesity and high cholesterol levels and to reduce the incidence of colon cancer.

Clinical studies have shown that chitosan works far better than currently available medications, such as cholestyramine, in these areas. It has two obvious advantages over the present medications. First, it actually entraps cholesterol; currently used medications generally bind the cholesterol on their surfaces. In addition, chitosan achieves its anticholesterol effect without any significant side effects. By contrast, eholestyramine can cause constipation and can alter the structure of the intestine.

Several different delivery systems that involve chitin or chitosan can be used for controlled release of drugs over specific times or locations. A system that uses partly deacetylated chitin can deliver drugs orally or to specific parts of the body. Solutions can be set up to form water-soluble films or cross-linked with glutaraldehyde into hydrogels. Lysozyme triggers the release of the drug into the body.

Solutions containing 1% to 2% of chitosan in 1% to 2% acetic acid have successfully cured dermatitis in zoo animals. Chitosan acetate applied to human skin has proved effective in treating athlete's foot. A preparation of this type is on the market in Japan. Topical applications of chitosan have also shown potential for preventing vaginitis and denture stomatitis, because it can prevent the adherence of yeast and its penetration into epithelial cells.

Strong potential also exists for chitosan as an alternative to collagen in treating wrinkles, acne, scars and other insults to soft skin tissue. If developed effectively, this area has high market potential.

Ointments, initial products are likelv to find applications in veterinary medicine. The Japanese, for example, have available a chitin cotton for veterinary use. Several methods of making dressings are available. For example, threads of chitin can be wet spun into a woven fibrous sheet. Applied to wounds, mis accelerates healing ana reduces oom pain and scamng. n does not dissolve in bodv fluid and. unlike other forms of "artificial skin." it can be applied to wounds without soaking in saltwater. Ihis type ot material has made inroads in Japan, where it is used for burns, surface wounds and skin-graft donor sites.

Another approach is to create a film of chitosan directly on the site of a wound, by applying a solution of chitosan acetate. Even though it is acidic, this solution does not cause pain; rather, it soothes and cools me wound. Chitosan films can absorb 50% of their weight in water. Since they are slowly degraded by lysozyme, they do not need to be removed after healing. Chitosan of low molecular weight is thought to be most effective for this application.

It is also possible to make a sponge of chitosan by aerating a chitosan solution or adding a surfactant and chemical foaming agent. A powdery solid substance is then dispersed in the foam, after which the solution is coagulated with a liquid such as methanol. The powdery solution is removed by treating the mixture with hot water.

Chitosan wound dressings can act as carriers for medicinal substances such as antibiotics, creating a kind of time-release technology. For example, one can use a gel or a gel-like membrane that forms when chitosan powder is dissolved in an acidic solution of glycerol, and then neutralized.

Surgical Sutures : These work by remaining in tissue long enough to permit healing to occur, and then slowly dissolving; therefore they need not be removed. Unlike several other suture materials that are absorbed by the body, these do not cause allergic reactions. They are also stable in the mild alkaline body fluids in the intestinal and urinary tracts. Collagen is synthesized more rapidly around chitin-related sutures than around sutures made of more established alternatives.

Ophthalmology : Both contact lenses and the intraocular lenses used in cataract surgery must have one significant characteristic: gas permeability. The lenses must allow the cornea of the eye to obtain oxygen and to get rid of carbon dioxide. If the lens is not permeable enough to allow sufficient oxygen through, the cornea will accumulate metabolites, which will, in turn, cause swelling and pain. Lenses must also be wetable and nonallergenic, and must have high mechanical strength.

Research suggests that chitin and chitosan can make lenses more permeable to oxygen than other lens materials. This could be particularly useful for injured eyes, because chitin and chitosan also help to heal the wounds. In addition, chitin does not adhere to eye wounds; that makes removing the lenses from the eyes safer. Tests with rabbits have shown that chitosan lenses accelerate the healing of the cornea. When chitosan is used, more collagen is laid down and more fibroblasts enter the area of the wound.

This technology has particular promise in soft contact lenses. At least two companies are developing soft lenses containing chitin or chitosan - in the form of plasticized acetate film, for example. Hard contact lenses can also be prepared using chitin n-butyrate.

Since chitin can regenerate the connective tissue that covers the teeth near the gums, it has possibilities for treating periodontal diseases such as gingivitis and periodontis. Laboratory tests that may lack both raw material and technology may be potential targets for applications of the end product.

Currently, there are less then fifteen(15) major processors of chitin and chitosan worldwide. Of these major processors, only one is located in the United States, two are in Canada, two in Scandinavia, and the balance in Asia. There are numerous small processors throughout Asia. Many of these small processors are located in small remote villages, making transportation of the end product rather difficult and production quantity and quality unreliable. All of these producers rely on an acid based extraction process.

MARINE CHEMICALS however, is uniquely positioning itself in this global marketplace.
(I) MARINE CHEMICALS has a proprietary extraction process that utilizes a biological process to extract the chitin rather than harsh acid and base solutions.
(2) MARINE CHEMICALS's process cost significantly less then an acid based process, making us the low cost producer of chitin and chitosan.
(3) MARINE CHEMICALS has secured long term contracts with shell sources in various ecosystems.
(4) MARINE CHEMICALS's initial production plants are located in areas where access to rail lines, shipping lines, and trucking is readily available, making the transportation of our end product to virtually anyplace in the world a simple and affordable process.