CORRELATION BETWEEN MOLECULAR-PARAMETERS OF HYALURONIC-ACID AND THE VISCOELASTICITY OF SYNOVIAL-FLUIDS

The viscoelastic properties of hyaluronic acid solutions and synovial fluids were investigated by oscillating capillary rheology in a freque ncy range from 0.03 to 30 Hz. A clear dependency of these parameters, especially of the elastic component, on the molecular weight of the hy aluronic acid molecules was obtained. The addition of hyaluronic acid solutions to pathological synovial fluids improves the viscoelastic pa rameters depending on the applied dose. However, the rheological behav ior of a ''healthy synovial fluid'' could not be reached by the proced ure.