Characterization of the visco-elastic properties of hyaluronic acid

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a polysaccharide present in almost all animal tissues, in which it carries out important biological functions, among them, the protection of the joints by lubricating them and dampening the tension in them. OBJECTIVE: This study compares the viscoelastic properties of several commercial preparations of HA, to determine their suitability for use as viscosupplementation therapy in joint pathology (osteoarthritis). METHODS: 4 HA hydrogels: Durolane®, Synocrom_Forte_One®, Synvisc_One® and Viscoplus_Matrix® and 4 HA solutions: Ostenil®, Ostenil_Plus®, Viscoplus_Gel® and Orthovisc® were analyzed to compare their viscoelatsic rheological parameters using an oscillatory-rotational rheometer. RESULTS: With respect to the 4 HA hydrogels, comparison of crossover frequencies allowed division into two main groups: Synvisc_One® and Viscoplus_Matrix®, with crossover frequencies in the order of magnitude of 10−2 Hz, while Synocrom_Forte_One® and Durolane® showed crossover frequencies on the order of 10−1 Hz. Only one of the 4 HA solutions, Viscoplus_Gel®, showed a crossover frequency on the order of 10−2, whereas Ostenil_Plus® and Orthovisc® showed crossover frequencies on the order of 10−1, and Ostenil® remained as a predominantly viscous fluid for frequencies as high as 4.8 Hz. CONCLUSIONS: The viscoelastic properties of the HA preparations can be ordered according to the values of G ∗ (the rigidity, or vector sum of the elastic modulus G ′ and the viscous modulus G ′′) at both transition points (0.5 and 2.5 Hz) as follows: Viscoplus_Matrix® > Viscoplus_Gel® > Durolane® > Synocrom_Forte_One® > Ostenil_Plus® > Synvisc_One® > Orthovisc® > Ostenil®.

Glycosaminoglycan and Proteoglycan Biotherapeutics in Articular Cartilage Protection and Repair Strategies: Novel Approaches to Visco‐supplementation in Orthobiologics

“…[241] The elasticity of HA increases with increasing molecular weight and concentration of the HA molecular network. [242][243][244][245][246] Synovial fluid HA in normal healthy knees has a molecular weight of 7 × 10 6 Da whereas HA in the OA or RA knee HA has a molecular weight of 4.8-5.0 × 10 6 Da. [240] Commercial preparations of HA of variable sizes are available ( Table 5).…”

“…[289,290] A comprehensive review [291] of MED-LINE, EMBASE, and PUBMED databases uncovered 2782 articles on HAs used in OA treatment. These were i) chondroprotection, [135,242,285,289,[292][293][294][295][296][297][298][299][300] ii) promotion of PG/GAG biosynthesis, [287,295,297,[301][302][303] iii) anti-inflammatory effects, [285,290,293,295,303,304] iv) mechanical effects, [296,299,302,305] v) effects on subchondral bone, [294,306] and vi) analgesic properties. These were i) chondroprotection, [135,242,285,289,[292][293][294][295][296][297][298][299][300] ii) promotion of PG/GAG ...…”

“…Biomedical B Baumann Group [242] 10 × 10 12 Da NASHA HAs Durolane Bioventus (USA) [243,257,268,269] functionalities which are reactive with bi-functional reagents and these can be used to attach peptides to the CS backbone. AFM confirmed that the attached peptides adopted a bristle-like distribution in a bottle-brush type arrangement on the CS core and they thus explored all available spatial orientations which would be expected to optimize the space-filling and interactive properties of the peptidoglycans.…”

“…[239] Native synovial HA is a thixotropic non-Newtonian viscoelastic solution whose viscosity is shear dependent. [240][241][242][243][244][245][246] At high shear the viscosity of HA gels may drop by as much as 10 3 times and it then obeys as a Newtonian fluid. [241] The elasticity of HA increases with increasing molecular weight and concentration of the HA molecular network.…”

“…These differ in their rheological characteristics in vitro and the properties they convey to synovial fluid and joint-lubrication in vivo. [242][243][244][245][246] Synovial fluid HA in normal healthy knees has a molecular weight of 7 × 10 6 Da whereas HA in the OA or RA knee HA has a molecular weight of 4.8-5.0 × 10 6 Da. [247] HA in the OA knee has a broad polydisperse size distribution with a weight average molecular weight of 1.2-4.5 × 10 6 Da, whereas the HA from a normal joint has a weight average molecular weight of 1.6-10.9 × 10 6 Da.…”