title: High Sensitivity Method to Estimate Distribution of Hyaluronan Molecular Sizes in Small Biological Samples Using Gas-Phase Electrophoretic Mobility Molecular Analysis.
abstract: Hyaluronan is a negatively charged polydisperse polysaccharide where both its size and tissue concentration play an important role in many physiological and pathological processes. The various functions of hyaluronan depend on its molecular size. Up to now, it has been difficult to study the role of hyaluronan in diseases with pathological changes in the extracellular matrix where availability is low or tissue samples are small. Difficulty to obtain large enough biopsies from human diseased tissue or tissue from animal models has also restricted the study of hyaluronan. In this paper, we demonstrate that gas-phase electrophoretic molecular mobility analyzer (GEMMA) can be used to estimate the distribution of hyaluronan molecular sizes in biological samples with a limited amount of hyaluronan. The low detection level of the GEMMA method allows for estimation of hyaluronan molecular sizes from different parts of small organs. Hence, the GEMMA method opens opportunity to attain a profile over the distribution of hyaluronan molecular sizes and estimate changes caused by disease or experimental conditions that has not been possible to obtain before.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology, Heart Centre and Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Division of Medicine, Umeå University, 901 85 Umeå, Sweden ; Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics-Unit of Research Education and Development Östersund, Umeå University, 831 31 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Do
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Oslo University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine and K.G. Jebsen Cardiac Research Center and Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, 0327 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Christen P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Dahl
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kerje
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrative Physiology, Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala University, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hansell
authors.affiliation: Cardiology, Heart Centre and Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Division of Medicine, Umeå University, 901 85 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Stellan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mörner
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, 751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulla
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Lindqvist
authors.affiliation: Division of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, 901 85 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Engström-Laurent
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics-Unit of Research Education and Development Östersund, Umeå University, 831 31 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.affiliation: Cardiology, Heart Centre and Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Division of Medicine, Umeå University, 901 85 Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Urban
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hellman