Extracellular depolymerization of hyaluronic acid in cultured human skin fibroblasts |
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| Authors: | T Nakamura K Takagaki K Kubo A Morikawa S Tamura M Endo |
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| Institution: | Department of Biochemistry, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, Japan. |
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| Abstract: | The chain length of 3H]hyaluronic acid synthesized by cultivating human skin fibroblasts in the presence of 3H]glucosamine was investigated. 3H]Hyaluronic acid obtained from the matrix fraction was excluded from a Sepharose CL-2B column irrespective of the incubation period, whereas that from the medium was depolymerized into a constant chain length (Mr = 40,000). The reducing and non-reducing terminals of the depolymerized hyaluronic acid were N-acetylglucosamine and glucuronic acid, respectively. Prolonged incubation produced no oligosaccharides as shown by examination of hyaluronidase digests, suggesting the presence of a novel endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase in cultured human skin fibroblasts. |
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