Dynamic viscosity (eta) of the high-molecular-weight hyaluronan (HA) solution was measured by a Brookfield rotational viscometer equipped with a Teflon cup and spindle of coaxial cylindrical geometry. The decrease of eta of the HA solution, indicating degradation of the biopolymer, was induced by a system containing H2O2 alone or H2O2 plus CuCl2. The reaction system H2O2 plus CuCl2 as investiga...

The role of inflammation in the development of cancer was described as early as the nineteenth century. Abundant evidence supports the preposition that various cancers are triggered by infection and chronic inflammatory disease whereas, evading immune destruction has been proposed as one of the new "hallmarks of cancer." Changes of the tumor microenvironment have been closely correlated to canc...

In response to tissue injury, hyaluronan (HA) polymers are cleaved by host hyaluronidases, generating small fragments that ligate Toll-like receptors (TLRs) to elicit inflammatory responses. Pathogenic bacteria such as group B Streptococcus (GBS) express and secrete hyaluronidases as a mechanism for tissue invasion, but it is not known how this activity relates to immune detection of HA. We fou...

Although the predominant mechanism of intra-articular hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid) (HA) and hylans for the treatment of pain associated with knee osteoarthritis (OA) is unknown, in vivo, in vitro, and clinical studies demonstrate various physiological effects of exogenous HA. HA can reduce nerve impulses and nerve sensitivity associated with the pain of OA. In experimental OA, this glycosaminog...

Vascular integrity or the maintenance of blood vessel continuity is a fundamental process regulated, in part, by the endothelial glycocalyx and cell-cell junctions. Defects in endothelial barrier function are an initiating factor in several disease processes including atherosclerosis, ischemia/reperfusion, tumor angiogenesis, cancer metastasis, diabetes, sepsis and acute lung injury. The glycos...

The hyaluronic acid receptor for endocytosis (HARE)/ Stabilin-2 is the primary systemic scavenger receptor for hyaluronan (HA), the chondroitin sulfates (CS), dermatan sulfate (DS), and nonglycosaminoglycan (GAG) ligands such as acetylated low-density lipoprotein (AcLDL), pro-collagen propeptides, and advanced glycation end products. We recently discovered that HARE is also a systemic scavenger...

Hyaluronan (HA) is a ubiquitous connective tissue glycosaminoglycan component of most extracellular matrices and alterations in its synthesis have been suggested to be involved in the glomerular changes of diabetic nephropathy. Similarly it has been suggested that macrophages are involved in the initiation of diabetic glomerular injury. Much less is known regarding the role of the prognostic va...

The extracellular matrix (ECM) glycosaminoglycan (GAG) hyaluronan (HA) and its binding proteins, the hyaladherins, have long been implicated in the regulation of a variety of morphogenetic processes associated with embryogenesis (reviewed, Toole, 1981, 1990; Toole et al., 1984). Due to the structure of the molecule and its hydrophilic nature, HA forms hydrated gels even at very low concentratio...

Lyophilized unilamellar liposomes (ULV), the dosage form of choice for shelf-life, revert upon reconstitution to the larger multilamellar liposomes (MLV), which is detrimental to the many carrier-mediated therapies that require small particles. High doses of sugars such as trehalose, sucrose and others, included in the original formulations for cryoprotection, were shown to prevent the conversi...

Ginsenosides, the major active ingredients of ginseng, have a variety of biomedical efficacies such as anti-aging, anti-oxidation, and anti-inflammatory activities. To understand the effects of compound K (20-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-20(S)-protopanaxadiol), one of the major metabolites of ginsenosides, on the skin, we assessed the expression levels of about 100 transcripts in compound K-treated ...