Preparation and Characterization of the High Molecular Weight [3H]Hyaluronic Acid

Abstract

Two methods for the preparation of high molecular weight [3H]hyaluronic acid were investigated. In the first one, hydrogen atoms in the molecule were replaced by tritium. This isotopic substitution was performed in aqueous solution using Pd/CaCO3 as the catalyst. In the second method, the high molecular weight hyaluronic acid was alkylated with [3H]methyl bromide in liquid ammonia at a temperature of -33.5 °C. High-performance gel permeation chromatographic separation method was used for the isolation and characterization of the high molecular weight [3H]hyaluronic acid. Molecular weight parameters for the labelled biopolymers were Mw = 128 kDa, Mw/Mn = 1.88 (first method) and Mw = 268 kDa, Mw/Mn = 1.55 (second method). The high molecular weight [3H]hyaluronic acid having Mw = 268 kDa was degraded further by specific hyaluronidase. Products of the enzymatic depolymerization were observed to be identical for both, labelled and cold biopolymer. This finding indicates that the described labelling procedure using [3H]methyl bromide does not induce any major structural rearrangements in the molecule.