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Iosif Volfson, Fedorovskii VIMS (Russian Federation)
Igor Pechenkin, Fedorovskii VIMS (Russian Federation)
Galina Sidorenko, Fedorovskii VIMS (Russian Federation)
Galina Zenova, Lomonosov MGU (Russian Federation)
Ekaterina Shelekhova, Fedorovskii VIMS (Russian Federation)
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Flints as well as other silicites are one of the most important geological objects for medical and mineralogical research. These rock and mineral formations allow us to learn different aspects of geological objects and further understand the factors affecting human health. Questions are often discussed in the scientific press about the usefulness of silicites - diatomites, zeolitic-bearing tripolis as applicable for medicinal preparation as food supplements. In this case, a special place belongs to flints. There is information concerning the use of flints for medical purposes even in the distant past (Walters, R., 1999). In the last decade, demand for biologically active flints vastly increased. In accordance with the results obtained by scientists in early 1990-s, using flints in medicine for biological activation of water has allowed us to greatly reduce the time and expense for therapy, and raise the efficiency of the treatment of a multitude of diseases, including cancer.
The authors investigated flints chosen from sedimentary geological formations of the East European Platform. The flints mineralogical and geochemical as well as crystal and chemical features were established. During research, the biological activity of the flints' mineral species were investigated and proved that the biological activity of the flints is an individual display of antimicrobal activity of streptomycetes, chalcedony flints inhabitants, and soil bacteria, which are producers of a number of biologically active substances like antibiotics.
When undertaking the experiment on the study of characteristics of antimicrobal activities of actinomycetes, Staphylococcus aureus stock (stock UV-2 mutant i.e. more strong) was used as a test-organism. The antagonism to this was most clearly shown beside actinomycete Streptomyces family Cinereus section Achromogenes sere, chosen from sample chalcedony flint from parent rock of Cretaceous period (K2) of the East European Platform. The lysis zone (the zone of the absence of the growing test-organism) staphylococcus around block of the growing actinomycete was equal 20 mm. The obtained results allow us to conclude about a strong dependence between crystal and chemical features of quartz and actinomycete number, from one side. Furthermore, these results point to the possibility for the use actinomycete, grown on material flint, for the production of a new type antibiotics, as well as syntheses of other biologically active material - amino acids, vitamins (the groups B1), enzymes, from other side.
Another aspect of a great importance of flints studied was the toxicity of quartz which causes lung disease such as silicosis. The toxicity of quartz is strongly dependent on its crystallization status. The most dangerous factor affecting human health is the tridymite phase of quartz which is of needle-shaped crystals and identified as transitional in flints of opal and chalcedony type.
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