A new study of the degradation of hyaluronic acid by hyaluronidase using quartz crystal impedance technique.

A new quartz crystal impedance sensing technique for the assay of hyaluronidase (HAse) activity is presented. It is based on the changes in viscosity and density during the enzymatic hydrolysis of hyaluronic acid (HA) by HAse. The variations of equivalent circuit parameters of piezoelectric quartz crystal (PQC) during the enzymatic degradation are discussed. The motional resistance shift curves indicate that the viscosity of the test solutions decreases during the hydrolysis process. The initial hydrolysis rates of HA are obtained from changes in viscosity and density as a function of incubation time. Kinetic parameters (the Michaelis constant K(m) and the maximum hydrolysis rate V(max)) of the degradation reaction are estimated by using a linear Lineweaver-Burk plot in this work. The K(m) was 0.44+/-0.03 mg.ml(-1) and the V(max) was -(5.29+/-0.36)x10(-3) kg.m(-2).s(-1/2).min(-1).