Chemical Components of Swim Bladder and Donkey Skin and their Improvement Effects on Cyclophosphamide-induced Anemia Mice

Objective: To systematic study for different chemical components of swim bladder and donkey skin, and their improvement effects on cyclophosphamide-induced anemia mice. Methods: The chemical characterizations, including total protein content, amino acid composition and molecular weight were measured, respectively. Pepsin-soluble collagens were extracted from swim bladder and donkey skin by hydrochloric acid-pepsin method, and analyzed the content, composition and structure. The anemia model was established by intraperitoneal injected with cyclophosphamide at a dosage of 80 mg/(kg·d). The coefficient of visceral organs and the hematological indexes were observed in mice with swim bladder glue (1.52 g/(kg·d)) or donkey skin glue (1.39 g/(kg·d)) by gavage administration per day. Results: The total protein contents of swim bladder and donkey skin reached more than 97%. The molecular weights of swim bladder glue and donkey skin glue ranged from 50 Da to 328 kDa. Swim bladder collagen and donkey skin collagen were both type I collagen. While the content of collagen in swim bladder was 6.51 times than that in donkey skin. However the collagen triple helix structures were different. The swim bladder collagen has an α-helix structure, and the donkey skin collagen structure was mainly anti-parallel. After 28 days of administration, both swim bladder glue and donkey skin glue could promote the recovery of hematopoietic function in cyclophosphamide-induced anemia mice, and swim bladder glue exhibited a better effect. Compared with the model, the erythrocyte, hemoglobin, platelet, reticulocyte, spleen and thymus coefficients of the swim bladder glue were significantly improved (P<0.05). The erythrocyte, hemoglobin and thymus coefficients of the donkey skin glue were significantly improved (P<0.05). Conclusion: A systematic study of the chemical characteristics of swim bladder and donkey skin were carried out to determine the differences between the components. Pharmacodynamical research showed that swim bladder glue and donkey skin glue could promote the recovery of hematopoietic function in cyclophosphamide model mice, and the effect of swim bladder glue was better. It was hypothesized that the blood replenishing activity of the two might be related to the amino acids, collagen and other components. This work could provide a theoretical foundation for the development of swim bladder.