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Aqueous hyaluronic acid concentration: comparison in pediatric and adult patients
J M Jumper1, D F Chang, C S Hoyt
1Beckman Vision Center, Department of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Purpose:
To determine if there is an age-related increase in human aqueous hyaluronic acid (HA) concentration.
Methods:
HA concentrations were measured in 102 specimens of human aqueous humour obtained during intraocular surgery. Patient age ranged from one month to 93 years. Measurement of the HA concentration in the specimens was performed by a modified ELISA-like assay using a biotinylated HA-binding peptide.
Results:
An approximate five-fold increase in the mean aqueous HA concentration was observed between the pediatric (0.33 microgram/ml, n = 5) and the adult patients (1.72 micrograms/ml, n = 97, p < 0.0002). Among the adult patients, however, there was a poor correlation between age and aqueous HA concentration.
Conclusions:
Adult aqueous humor has a significantly higher HA concentration than aqueous obtained from pediatric patients. The source of this increase is unclear, but may be from anterior segment production of HA, or alternatively, from anterior diffusion of vitreous HA.