Chemical Studies of Paolin II, an Antiviral Substance from Oysters

Abstract

An antiviral thermostable substance (paolin II) is isolated from oysters by extraction with acetic acid followed by fractional precipitation with ethanol. The substance shows one peak on ultracentrifugation, has a sedimentation constant of 1.6-1.8 and a molecular weight of approximately 10,000. The material yields 16 amino acids on hydrolysis with a composition of 8.6% nitrogen and 23.4% carbohydrate, indicating the mucoprotein nature of the substance.