Demonstration of a Hyaluronidase-Sensitive Substance in the Perilymph of the Cod

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that the perilymph surrounding the superior part of the labyrinth of the cod contains an acid mucopolysaccharide. There is every probability that this polysaccharide is of the hyaluronic acid type. We arrived at this conclusion by the following reasons:

The isolated substance was of a high molecular weight, and its aqueous solution was highly viscous. Dry smears stained heavily metachromatic with toluidine blue at pH = 6.5; the metachromatic reaction was negative after treatment with streptococcal hyaluronidase and/or with pyocyanine. Judged from viscosimetric investigations the substance is readily disintegrated by the streptococcal enzyme. The properties of flow elasticity and displacement potentials faded away after enzymic digestion.