Papain, also known as papaya proteinase I, is a cysteine protease (EC 3.4.22.2) enzyme present in papaya (Carica papaya) and mountain papaya (Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis).
Papain breaks down tough meat fibres, and has been used for thousands of years to tenderise meat eaten in its native South America. Meat tenderisers in powder form with papain as an active component are widely sold.
Papain can be used to dissociate cells in the first step of cell culture preparations. A ten-minute treatment of small tissue pieces (less than 1 mm cubed) will allow papain to begin cleaving the extracellular matrix molecules holding the cells together. After ten minutes, the tissue should be treated with a protease inhibitor solution to stop the protease action. Left untreated, papain activity will lead to complete lysis of the cells. The tissue must then be triturated (passed quickly up and down through a Pasteur pipette) to break up the pieces of tissue into a single cell suspension.
It is also used as an ingredient in various enzymatic debriding preparations, notably Accuzyme. These are used in the care of some chronic wounds to clean up dead tissue.
Papain is added to some toothpastes and mint sweets as a tooth whitener. Its whitening effect is, however, minimal because the papain is present in low concentrations and is quickly diluted by saliva. It would take several months of use, to have a noticeable effect.
Papain is the main ingredient of Papacarie, a gel used for chemomechanical dental caries removal. It does not require drilling and does not interfere in the bond strength of restorative materials to dentin.
Papain has been known to interfere with urine drug tests for cannabinoids.It is found in some drug detox products.
Papain is usually produced as a crude, dried material by collecting the latex from the fruit of the papaya tree. The latex is collected after scoring the neck of the fruit, where it may either dry on the fruit or drip into a container. This latex is then further dried. It is now classified as a dried, crude material. A purification step is necessary to remove contaminating substances. This purification consists of the solubilization and extraction of the active papain enzyme system through a government-registered process. This purified papain may be supplied as powder or as liquid.
Papain, CAS# 9001-73-4, is a natural ingredient isolated from papaya and mountain papaya, available as brown powder. Papain is widely used as nutritional supplement. It is widely accepted as safe additive in many countries.As a professional Papain suppliers and manufacturer of food additives, Foodchem International Corporation has been supplying quality Papain to customers all over the world for over 10 years. If you have any questions or wish to receive a quote, please feel free to reach us by email: inquiry@foodchem.cn or by phone: +86 21 2206 3075. Our sales person will get back to you in 1 working day.