Product Description

Hyaluronan (HA) is a linear polysaccharide comprised of a repeating disaccharide of N-acetylglucosamine and D-glucuronic acid. The major function of HA is to provide structural support of tissue as part of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Thus, HA is widely present in connective tissue in higher animals. The size of HA varies from 100 kD to 10,000 kD and is responsible for different functions¹. In humans, free HA enters circulation through the lymph node, where 80% is degraded and recycled by the liver and the remaining 20% is metabolized in the kidneys and excreted through urine². Multiple studies have shown that high serum HA levels correlates with liver disease.

Assay DesignEchelon’s Hyaluronic Acid AlphaScreen™ Assay is a competitive immunoassay for in vitro HA measurement. The HA present in sample competes with the Biotin-HA for binding to the His-tag HA Detector. Therefore, the assay signal is inversely proportional to the HA amount present in the sample (Figure 1). The no-wash homogenous assay design allows assay to be completed in just 90 minutes without any additional hands-on steps between incubation. This assay is compatible with high throughput (HTS) and uses only 15 μL sample for running triplicate measurements. In addition, Echelon’s HA AlphaScreen™ Assay detects HA in an independent manner regardless of HA molecular weight (see Assay Notes for details); thus, providing researchers a quick and robust in vitro HA measurement method.

References

1. Cowman et al. (2015) The Content and Size of Hyaluronan in Biological Fluids and Tissues. Front Immunol Jun 2;6:261.
2. Garg and Hales (2004) Chemistry and Biology of Hyaluronan. Elsevier Science