A Comparison of Physicochemical Measurements of Hyaluronidase and of Neutralizing Antibodies Thereto

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Abstract
Summary: The depolymerization of hyaluronic acid by bacterial and testicular hyaluronidase has been studied in relation to the question of whether the same or different enzymes are involved in the three physicochemical reactions by which this depolymerization can be measured: mucin-clot-prevention, turbidimetry and viscosimetry. Twenty-seven preparations of hyaluronidase of a wide variety of sources and wide range of potency were examined by the three methods, and the respective measurements of enzyme activity for each preparation were found to be in fairly close proportion. Preparations of bacterial and testicular hyaluronidase were tested at intervals during exposure to heating and ultraviolet irradiation, and the progressive loss of potency of the enzyme was found to proceed at similar rates by all three methods of measurement. Similar results were obtained during partial specific absorption of the enzyme by increasing amounts of antiserum. The antihyaluronidase titers of rabbits subjected to a short course of injections of streptococcal and of testicular hyaluronidase were measured by the three reactions, and were found to rise and fall concomitantly in all three tests. The evidence presented here is consistent with the concept that the three physicochemical methods by which hyaluronidase can be detected measure the same depolymerase of hyaluronic acid.