Study of hyaluronic acid flexibility by electric birefringence

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Abstract
Transient-electric-birefringence experiments were conducted on 4 samples of [rooster comb cartilage] hyaluronic acid over the molecular-mass (M) range 5 .times. 104-4 .times. 106 in dilute aqueous solution. The geometrical, optical and electrical characteristics were monitored via the rotary relaxation times, optical-polarizability antisotropies and electrical polarizabilities, respectively. Each indicates the molecular conformation to be consistent with some degree of rigidity at low M but that this does not persist at high M. The molecules do not become true random coils, but are best characterized in terms of a persistence length of 20 nm or 20 disaccharide units.