Molecular properties of Rous chicken sarcoma hyaluronic acid-protein complex.

Hyalu ron ic acid (HA), first isolated by Meyer (1r is a compound of considerable biological interest. This polysacchar ide has been found in m a n y an imal tissues, especially those of mesenchymal origin, and in the capsules of some types of bacter ia . Fur thermore , a mucinous polysacchar ide of the HA type was detected and isolated from fowl sarcoma by K a b a t (10) and by Claude (5). These findings have been confirmed recent ly by War ren and co-workers (17), by Caputo (5), and by Harris, Malmgren , and Sylv6n (9). I n the course of some research related to the impor tance of mucoprote ins in t umor growth, we became interested in the isolation and characterizat ion of Rous chicken sarcoma HA. In this paper will be described the results of a s tudy on the physicochemical propert ies of HA isolated f rom Rous chicken sarcoma, compar ing it wi th the same compound prepared f rom normal sources, such as cock's comb, ox synovia l fluid, and h u m a n umbil ical cord.