Research review paper The many ways to cleave hyaluronan

Hyaluronanisbeingusedincreasinglyasacomponentofartificialmatricesandinbioengineeringfortissuescaffolding.Thelength of hyaluronan polymer chains is now recognized as informational, involving a wide variety of size-specific functions. Inadvertent scissionofhyaluronancanoccurduringtheprocessofpreparation.Ontheotherhand,certain size-specifichyaluronanfragmentsmay be desirable, endowing the finished bioengineered product with specific properties. In this review, the vast arrays of reactions that cause scission of hyaluronan polymers is presented, including those on an enzymatic, free radical, and chemical basis.