Force Spectroscopy of Hyaluronan by Atomic Force Microscopy: From Hydrogen-Bonded Networks toward Single-Chain Behavior

Giannotti, Marina I. and Rinaudo, Marguerite and Vancso, G. Julius (2007) Force Spectroscopy of Hyaluronan by Atomic Force Microscopy: From Hydrogen-Bonded Networks toward Single-Chain Behavior. Biomacromolecules, 8 (9). pp. 2648-2652. ISSN 1525-7797

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Abstract:	The conformational behavior of hyaluronan (HA) polysaccharide chains in aqueous NaCl solution was characterized directly at the single-molecule level. This comunication reports on one of the first single-chain atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiments performed at variable temperatures, investigating the influence of the temperature on the stability of the HA single-chain conformation. Through AFM single-molecule force spectroscopy, the temperature destabilization of a local structure was proven. This structure involved a hydrogen-bonded network along the polymeric chain, with hydrogen bonds between the polar groups of HA and possibly water, and a change from a nonrandom coil to a random coil behavior was observed when increasing the temperature from 29 ± 1 to 46 ± 1 °C. As a result of the applied force, this superstructure was found to break progressively at room temperature. The use of a hydrogen-bonding breaker solvent demonstrated the hydrogen-bonded water-bridged nature of the network structure of HA single chains in aqueous NaCl solution.
Item Type:	Article
Copyright:	© 2007 American Chemical Society
Faculty:	Science and Technology (TNW)
Research Group:	Materials Science and Technology of Polymers (MTP)
Link to this item:	http://purl.utwente.nl/publications/74702
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bm700592j
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