Biomedical applications of vermiculture

After establishing more than 27 vermiculture waste treatment plants in diverse industries to convert wastes into value added biofertilizers and earthworm biomass into protein feed over the last 12 years; now the Biotechnology Resource Centre [BRC] has taken considerable interest in some vital biomedical aspects of vermiculture. Our experiments clearly suggested significant antipyretic activity from the powdered extract of the Red American Earthworm species viz. Lumbricus rubellus when tested in the Swiss Albino Mouse in which fever had been induced by injection of Escherichia collpyrogen. In addition, we have also extracted a strong fibrinolytic enzyme from another earthworm species, viz. Pheretima asiatica. It was further revealed that oral administration of 600 mg powdered extract in old volunteers significantly increased fibrinolytic activity of the plasma euglobulin fraction. Thus, we at BRC believe that an increased scientific interest in biomedical aspects of vermiculture over the next few years is inevitable,.