Rheological and cohesive properties of hyaluronic acid.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally occurring polysaccharide with unique biomedical applications. We have studied the cohesive and rheological properties of HA of three molecular weights (0.35 x 10(6) -1.80 x 10(6) Da) and found that the cohesive nature of HA was highly dependent on molecular weight and solution concentration. To a first approximation, the cohesive nature of HA in solution correlates with concentration, independent of molecular weight. Several rheological parameters correlated with molecular weight: zero shear viscosity, complex viscosity, and the complex viscosity at the crossover point. The cohesive properties of the HA solutions, measured by dynamic aspiration (Poyer et al, J Cataract Refract Surg 1998;24:1130-1135), were found to decrease as the zero shear viscosity increases. The cohesive properties of HA polymer in solution were found to correlate with the high frequency complex viscosity and high frequency loss modulus independent of molecular weight.