A convenient radiometric assay for hyaluronan.

Hyaluronan-binding proteins (HABP) isolated from bovine cartilage have been utilized in a radiometric assay for determination of hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid; HA) in serum. The samples to be analysed are preincubated with iodinated HABP. After 60 minutes the protein that is not bound to hyaluronan, in the solution, is recovered on HA-Sepharose in a 45-min incubation. Hyaluronan can be determined in the range from 10 to 1,000 micrograms/l. The sample size is 100 microliter and the intra-assay and inter-assay coefficients of variations are less than 10% and less than 10%, respectively for samples containing hyaluronan concentrations in the range 10-200 micrograms/l. Detection limit is 4 micrograms/l.