Macrophages exhibit phenotypic diversity permitting wide-ranging roles in maintaining physiologic homeostasis. Hyaluronic acid, a major glycosaminoglycan of the extracellular matrix, has been shown to have differential signaling based on its molecular weight. With this in mind, the main objective of this study was to elucidate the role of hyaluronic acid molecular weight on macrophage activatio...

Aims/background—The aim of this study was to assess quantitatively the eVectiveness of hyaluronan on corneal disruption in patients with dry eye.Corneal epithelial barrier function was evaluated by measuring fluorescein permeability using a slit-lamp fluorophotometer. Methods—11 patients with dry eye were assigned to this study. Hyaluronan ophthalmic solution (0.1% hyaluronic acid) was instille...

The connective tissue components hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid) and type III procollagen peptide were measured in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in 22 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and 21 healthy control subjects. The patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis had higher concentrations of hyaluronan (median 46 micrograms/l) and type III procollagen peptide (median 0.45 micrograms/l) ...

Myocardial infarction (MI) results in debilitating remodeling of the myocardial extracellular matrix (ECM). In this proof-of-principle study it was sought to modulate this aggressive remodeling by injecting a hyaluronic acid-based reservoir delivering exogenous microRNA-29B (miR-29B). This proof-of-principal study was executed whereby myocardial ischemia/reperfusion was performed on C57BL/6 mic...

The natural vitreous is a transparent, gelatinoid structure occupying four-fifths of the volume of the eye. It has a thin, membrane-like structure corresponding to the vitreous cortex that extends from the ora serrata to the posterior pole.1 It is somewhat spherical but slightly flattened meridionally, and it has a cup-shaped depression in its anterior side. It consists of about 99% water by we...

Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) is a fatal disease characterised by elevated blood pressure in the pulmonary circulation. Initial vasoconstriction, proliferation of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMC) and increased deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) contribute to pathological remodelling of pulmonary arterioles in IPAH. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), components of...

Primary vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is the most common urological anomaly in children and has been reported in 30 to 50% of those who present with urinary tract infection (UTI). The association of VUR, UTI and renal parenchymal damage is well known. Reflux nephropathy is the cause of endstage renal failure in 3–25% of children and 10–15% of adults. There has been no consensus regarding when med...

CD44 is a ubiquitous molecule also known as hyaluronic acid or homing receptor. However, the cellular functions and its role in inflammation, for example, rheumatoid synovitis, are currently unknown. In this study, we propose a novel function for CD44. Using synovial cells from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, we demonstrated that CD44 cross-linking and binding to hyaluronan augmented VCAM-1...

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a crucial component of the extracellular matrix, and its level accumulation related to progression various malignant tumors. In this study, pan-cancer analysis three enzymes called hyaluronan synthases (HAS1, HAS2, HAS3) that produce HA was performed. The study comprehensively describes characteristics HAS1, HAS3 in cancers using public databases tools, identify potentia...

Treatment options for lesions of the avascular region of the meniscus using regenerative medicine approaches based on resorbable scaffolds are rare. Recent approaches using scaffold-based techniques for tissue regeneration known from cartilage repair may be a promising treatment option for meniscal tears. The aim of the study was the investigation of meniscus matrix formation of in vitro expand...