Isolation and Purification of Streptococcal Hyaluronic Acid

Summary

1. Hyaluronic acid was released from cells of a Group A Streptococcus pyogenes when the latter was grown in medium in which all constituents except casein hydrolysate were chemically defined. With this medium it has been possible to produce high yields of streptococcal hyaluronic acid following 16 to 18 hour incubation at 37°C. 2. Stability of hyaluronic acid in growing cultures of S. pyogenes following addition of a hyaluronidase inhibitor, alginic acid sulfate, to the medium, together with a significant increase in hyaluronic acid levels of the broths is further evidence that strains of streptococci which produce hyaluronic acid also produce hyaluronidase. 3. Isolation and partial purification of the bacterial mucopolysaccharide are described.