• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.219-223
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• 1989

Effect of antifoam agents, silicone oil and neolin 302, was investigated on the production of prodnisolone by microbial $\Delta$$^1$-Dehydrogenation of hydrocortisone. The microbial process was conduct-ed by using a pseudo-crystallofermentation. By the hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction, the steroid crystals aggregated with the antifoam agents. The aggregation resulted in a decrease of total mass transter area of substrate particles which is proportional to the dissolution rate of the solid substrate, and it consequently led to a significant decrease of the bioconversion rate. The bioconversion with neolin proceeded more slowly than with silicone oil. Increase of the concentration of the antifoam agents also yielded a significant decrease of the bioconversion rate.