Calorimetric and light scattering study of interactions and macromolecular properties of native and hydrophobically modified hyaluronan

Densification: Hyaluronan Aggregation in Different Human Organs

Hyaluronan (HA) has complex biological roles that have catalyzed clinical interest in several fields of medicine. In this narrative review, we provide an overview of HA aggregation, also called densification, in human organs. The literature suggests that HA aggregation can occur in the liver, eye, lung, kidney, blood vessel, muscle, fascia, skin, pancreatic cancer and malignant melanoma. In all these organs, aggregation of HA leads to an increase in extracellular matrix viscosity, causing stiffness and organ dysfunction. Fibrosis, in some of these organs, may also occur as a direct consequence of densification in the long term. Specific imaging evaluation, such dynamic ultrasonography, elasto-sonography, elasto-MRI and T1ρ MRI can permit early diagnosis to enable the clinician to organize the treatment plan and avoid further progression of the pathology and dysfunction.

Fascial or Muscle Stretching? A Narrative Review

Stretching exercises are integral part of the rehabilitation and sport. Despite this, the mechanism behind its proposed effect remains ambiguous. It is assumed that flexibility increases, e.g., action on muscle and tendon, respectively, but this is not always present in the stretching protocol of the exercises used. Recently, the fasciae have increased popularity and seems that they can have a role to define the flexibility and the perception of the limitation of the maximal range of motion (ROM). Deep fascia is also considered a key element to transmit load in parallel bypassing the joints, transmitting around 30% of the force generated during a muscular contraction. So, it seems impossible dividing the action of the muscles from the fasciae, but they have to be considered as a “myofascial unit”. The purpose of this manuscript is to evaluate the mechanical behavior of muscles, tendons, and fasciae to better understand how they can interact during passive stretching. Stress-strain values of muscle, tendon and fascia demonstrate that during passive stretching, the fascia is the first tissue that limit the elongation, suggesting that fascial tissue is probably the major target of static stretching. A better understanding of myofascial force transmission, and the study of the biomechanical behavior of fasciae, with also the thixotropic effect, can help to design a correct plan of stretching.

Structural behaviour of sodium hyaluronate in concentrated oppositely charged surfactant solutions

This work discusses the polyelectrolyte sodium hyaluronate (HA) and its polyelectrolyte/surfactant complexes (PESCs) with tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) in the semi-dilute regime of HA and at high concentrations of TTAB. The structure and flow properties in the surfactant excess region were studied by light scattering and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) as well as by rheology. The unique behaviour of HA to maintain its high viscosity was observed even at very high TTAB concentrations of 496 mM and this effect was systematically studied in the concentration range from 1 to 25 mM HA. From the data, it could be concluded that: (1) extended rod-like structures of the PESCs prevent molecular dissolution of HA by TTAB. (2) HA and TTAB micelles interact rather weakly as seen by a low fraction of bound micelles. (3) At very high TTAB concentrations a decompaction of PESCs (fractal dimension D_f going from 2.0 to 1.2) occurs with increasing HA concentration but (4) both the entanglement of HA and the structure of the micelles are not affected.

Study on mutual interactions and electronic structures of hyaluronan with Lysine, 6-Aminocaproic acid and Arginine

Interactions between polyelectrolytes and oppositely charged surfactants have been in a great interest for several decades, yet the conventional surfactants may cause a problem in medical applications. Interactivity between polysaccharide hyaluronan (HA) and amino acids Lysine, 6-Aminocaproic acid (6-AcA), and Arginine as an alternative system is reported. The interactions were investigated by means of rheology and electric conductance and the electronic structures were explored by the density functional theory (DFT). Lysine exhibits the strongest interaction of all, which was manifested, e.g. by nearly 6-time drop of the initial viscosity comparing with only 1.3-time lower value in the case of 6-AcA. Arginine interaction with HA was surprisingly weaker in terms of viscosity than that of Lysine due to a lower and delocalized charge density on its guanidine group. According to the DFT calculations, the binding of Lysine to HA was found to be more flexible, while Arginine creates more rigid structure with HA.

Dynamics of exocyclic groups in the Escherichia coli O91 O-antigen polysaccharide in solution studied by carbon-13 NMR relaxation

Carbon-13 relaxation data are reported for exocyclic groups of hexopyranosyl sugar residues in the repeating unit within the Escherichia coli O91 O-antigen polysaccharide in a dilute D2O solution. The measurements of T 1, T 2 and heteronuclear nuclear Overhauser enhancements were carried out at 310 K at two magnetic fields (16.4 T, 21.1 T). The data were analyzed using the standard and extended Lipari-Szabo models, as well as a conformational jump model. The extended version of the Lipari-Szabo and the two-site jump models were most successful for the hydroxymethyl groups of Gal and GlcNAc sugar residues. Different dynamics was found for the hydroxymethyl groups associated with different configurations (D-gluco, D-galacto) of the sugar residues, the latter being faster than the former.

Applications of isothermal titration calorimetry in pure and applied research--survey of the literature from 2010

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is a biophysical technique for measuring the formation and dissociation of molecular complexes and has become an invaluable tool in many branches of science from cell biology to food chemistry. By measuring the heat absorbed or released during bond formation, ITC provides accurate, rapid, and label-free measurement of the thermodynamics of molecular interactions. In this review, we survey the recent literature reporting the use of ITC and have highlighted a number of interesting studies that provide a flavour of the diverse systems to which ITC can be applied. These include measurements of protein-protein and protein-membrane interactions required for macromolecular assembly, analysis of enzyme kinetics, experimental validation of molecular dynamics simulations, and even in manufacturing applications such as food science. Some highlights include studies of the biological complex formed by Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin C3 and the murine T-cell receptor, the mechanism of membrane association of the Parkinson's disease-associated protein α-synuclein, and the role of non-specific tannin-protein interactions in the quality of different beverages. Recent developments in automation are overcoming limitations on throughput imposed by previous manual procedures and promise to greatly extend usefulness of ITC in the future. We also attempt to impart some practical advice for getting the most out of ITC data for those researchers less familiar with the method.