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Quantitative measurement of serum hyaluronic acid molecular weight in rheumatoid arthritis patients and the role of hyaluronidase
Author(s) -
SASAKI Yoshiko,
UZUKI Miwa,
NOHMI Kenji,
KITAGAWA Hironoshin,
KAMATAKI Akihisa,
KOMAGAMINE Masataka,
MURAKAMI Kenya,
SAWAI Takashi
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international journal of rheumatic diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1756-185X
pISSN - 1756-1841
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-185x.2011.01683.x
Subject(s) - hyaluronic acid , hyaluronidase , rheumatoid arthritis , glycosaminoglycan , medicine , serum concentration , arthritis , chromatography , biochemistry , chemistry , enzyme , anatomy
Aim: Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a glycosaminoglycan and is essential for protecting the cartilage surface by its physical property. It is known that serum HA concentration in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is higher than in healthy volunteer. However, molecular weight (MW) of serum HA in RA patients is not clear, since it needs a large sample volume to assay serum HA MW. The aim of this study is to establish the method for measuring serum HA MW in small sample sizes and to assess the association between serum HA MW and hyaluronidase (HAase) activity. Methods: MW of serum HA in RA patients was measured using high‐performance liquid chromatography and HA‐binding protein. Additionally, the correlation between serum HA and HAase activity was examined using zymographic measurements. Results: Serum HA MW peaked at 1–2 × 10 5 Da in all cases. However, in certain cases two peaks were observed, one each at low (1–2 × 10 5 Da) and high (8–14 × 10 5 Da) MW. HAase activity was lower in cases exhibiting this two‐peaked serum HA MW pattern than in those cases with only a single peak. Conclusion: The novel method developed for this study permits accurate measurement of serum HA MW. The correlation observed between serum HA MW and HAase activity suggests that serum HA MW may reflect the condition of subjects’ joints.