title: Study of hyaluronic acid flexibility by electric birefringence.
abstract: Transient-electric-birefringence experiments were conducted on four samples of hyaluronic acid over the molecular-mass (M) range 5 X 10(4)-4 X 10(6) 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.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001718:Birefringence; D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D002645:Chickens; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods
chemical_list: D006820:Hyaluronic Acid