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Hyaluronic acid: a natural biopolymer with a broad range of biomedical and industrial applications

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Abstract

Hyaluronic acid (hyaluronan, HA) is a linear polysaccharide formed from disaccharide units containing N-acetyl-d-glucosamine and glucuronic acid. It has a high molecular mass, usually in the order of millions of Daltons, and interesting viscoelastic properties influenced by its polymeric and polyelectrolyte characteristics. HA is present in almost all biological fluids and tissues. In clinical medicine, it is used as a diagnostic marker for many diseases including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and liver pathologies, as well as for supplementation of impaired synovial fluid in arthritic patients by means of intra-articular injections. It is also used in certain ophthalmological and otological surgeries and cosmetic regeneration and reconstruction of soft tissue. Herein we present an overview of the occurrence and physiological properties of HA, as well as of the recent advances in production biotechnology and preparation of the HA-based materials for medical application.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract APVV-51-033205 and Agency for Science VEGA of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education of Slovak Republic, grants 1/4452/07, 2/4143/26, and 2/5002/5, and by Center of Excellence CEDEBIPO of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK 845 38, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Grigorij Kogan & Peter Gemeiner

  2. Institute of Experimental Pharmacology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK 841 04, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Ladislav Šoltés

  3. Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0511, USA

    Robert Stern

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  1. Grigorij Kogan
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  2. Ladislav Šoltés
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  3. Robert Stern
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  4. Peter Gemeiner
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Correspondence to Grigorij Kogan.

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Kogan, G., Šoltés, L., Stern, R. et al. Hyaluronic acid: a natural biopolymer with a broad range of biomedical and industrial applications. Biotechnol Lett 29, 17–25 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-9219-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-006-9219-z

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