Experimental approaches to hyaluronan structure

A review of the literature describing experimental studies on hyaluronan (HA) is presented. Methods sensitive to the hydrodynamic properties of HA, analyzed in neutral aqueous solution containing NaCl at physiological concentration, can be shown to fit the expected behavior of a high molecular weight linear semi-flexible polymer. The significant nonideality of HA solutions can be predicted by a simple treatment for hydrodynamic interactions between polymer chains. Nuclear magnetic resonance and circular dichroism studies of HA are also in agreement with a model incorporating dynamically formed and broken hydrogen bonds, contributing to the semi-flexibility of the polymer chain, and segmental motions on the nanosecond time scale.