Enzymatic Catabolism of Hyaluronan

Continuously ongoing HA turnover (5g daily from 15g of HA per 70 kg human individual) is a well-established phenomenon and is carried out by a rapid catabolic action of HYALs. HA catabolism is, in fact, realized via two simultaneously occurring mechanisms, the enzymatic and chemical (oxidative) scission whose correlative proportion is unknown. 

HA catabolism/degradation results in the formation of different HA fragments. The parental biopolymer and the enzyme-mediated HA fragments, regardless of chain length, have both identical chemical structure whereas fragmented chains produced under oxidative stress contain e.g. aldehyde-, hydroperoxide-, and other chemical groups [17]. 

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