Method for obtaining carminic acid

A method for the production of carminic acid from female insects of the species Dactylopius coccus, the method comprising:

• extracting hemocytes from the hemolymph of the female insects until obtaining a solution comprising carminic acid-producing cells;
• pre-running a polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated silica particle gradient solution;
• adding the solution comprising the carminic acid-producing cells to the pre-run polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated silica particle gradient solution to obtain a mixture comprising hemocytes;
• purifying the hemocytes from the mixture;
• recovering the purified hemocytes;
• culturing the purified hemocytes with culture medium for culturing insect cell lines;
• stimulating and activating the insect cell lines;
• and
• propagating the insect cell lines that produce carminic acid;
• wherein stimulating and activating the insect cell lines comprises adding a combination of mitogens in phosphate-buffered saline, incubating the insect cell lines with the combination of mitogens to generate cultures, and after incubation, selecting the cultures that show an increase in population density;
• and
• wherein the hemocytes are granulocytes.