Inhibition of Hyaluronic Acid Degradation by Dimethyl Sulphoxide

Abstract

THE presence of ascorbic acid in vitreous humour¹ is of great importance in the process of post-mortem degradation, since hyaluronic acid, the major polysaccharide component of vitreous humour², has been shown³ to be degraded by reducing agents such as ascorbic acid and hydroquinone, in the presence of oxygen (the so-called ORD—oxidative reductive depolymerization—reaction). It is generally held that this depolymerization is brought about by free radical action, since radical scavengers such as sodium diethyldithiocarbamate have been shown⁴ to inhibit the reaction, and in an analogous investigation of the degradation of alginate, Smidsrod, Haug and Larsen⁵ have postulated a free radical reaction with peroxide intermediates. In our examination of the preservation of human vitreous humour a major consideration has been the effects of external agents, such as antibiotic preservatives and their ability to participate in an ORD reaction, together with methods of preventing such degradation.