Molecular Structure and Surface Accumulation Dynamics of Hyaluronan at the Water-Air Interface.

ABSTRACT: Hyaluronan is a biopolymer that is essential for many biological processes in the human body, like the regulation of tissue lubrication and inflammatory responses. Here, we study the behavior of hyaluronan at aqueous surfaces using heterodyne-detected vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy (HD-VSFG). Low-molecular-weight hyaluronan (∼150 kDa) gradually covers the water-air interface within hours, leading to a negatively charged surface and a reorientation of interfacial water molecules. The rate of surface accumulation strongly increases when the bulk concentration of low-molecular-weight hyaluronan is increased. In contrast, high-molecular-weight hyaluronan (>1 MDa) cannot be detected at the surface, even hours after the addition of the polymer to the aqueous solution. The stro

SUBMITTER: Moll CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8482758 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature