Page 5 - Pharmacy History 23 July 2004

Figure 1: Implant shortly after surgery, before blood vessels have grown in.
Figure 2: Peg attached directly to back of artificial eye.
Figure 3: Peg attached by ball and socket method to artificial eye.
Diagram of coral implant used as eye prosthesis after enucleation.
genetic splicing would provide long-term reliable availability of
an economic biomass production. Original estimates suggested lmg of active product from 1 kg of sponge!
A species of hard coral has been used to craft an intraorbital prosthesis
for those who have lost an eye. The microporous physical nature of the coral implant permits ingrowth of muscle fibres into its interstices, thereby permitting natural eye movement via the patient’s own ocular musculature, while a ‘peg’ can be inserted in the coral ball to mimic a natural pupil/iris appearance. Fascinating new frontiers indeed! This technique had indeed been proposed for some local patients and it was a privilege to be able to add
a further dimension to the clinical discussion with surgeon and patient.
Since then, this special marine biology knowledge base has been
of great use in developing and presenting lecture material on harmful marine organisms to hospital staff, ambulance personnel and community interest groups. It has also led to consultations on a regular basis by medical practitioners confronted by marine-related injuries such as infections, ciguatera poisoning and disabling stings, as well as specialist interest groups such as divers.
Barry Bryant is well known to our Queensland readers as he was PSA Regional Coordinator in Continuing Professional Education for several decades. He qualified as a Pharmacist in
1960 and practised in community pharmacy until 1989. Throughout this time he taught science and pharmacology to public as well as private hospital based nursing students and post graduate nursing staff. After a period of study in UK he worked part time in hospital pharmacy, and taught pharmacology at the local university in Rockhampton. He ceased hospital work in 2001 and since then has been providing clinical pharmacology programs
for regional medical trainees. He was granted Membership of the Australian Institute of Biology for his post-graduate work on stinging marine hydroid organisms, and he still delivers regular presentations on marine envenomation to students, hospital staff and ambulance officers.
Editor’s note: The television program, RPA, recently featured the use of a coral implant in a patient’s eye.
In the mid-1950s, nucleosides
were isolated from sponges, these compounds leading 20 years later
to the development of adenine- and cytosine-arabinosides , clinically useful anti-cancer drugs. In the mid- 1990s, a sponge (Lissodendoryx
sp) found only off Kaikoura in
the South Island of New Zealand, showed promising anti-tumour chemotherapeutic potential.
A number of options exist or may be developed to promote adequate supplies of any marine product
for research and development of biopharmaceuticals. The simplest
is of course, harvesting of natural populations, which may be counter- productive even in the short term and could only be an interim measure to provide material for initial testing.
Aquaculture would likely prove more sustainable, once ambient physical and environmental parameters for maximum growth were understood, while modern techniques of cell culture, chemical synthesis and
volume 2 ■ no 24 ■ November 2004
Pharmacy History Australia ■ 5