RHEOLOGY OF NATIVE HYALURONIC ACID SOLUTIONS AND DISPERSIONS OF THEIR CROSS-LINKED NANO AND MICROPARTICLES

• Grant number: 07/06276-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2008
• End date: September 30, 2008
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Process Industries
• Principal Investigator: Maria Helena Andrade Santana
• Grantee: Danilo Gasparetto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Química (FEQ). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this project is to study the rheological behavior of hyaluronic acid (HA) in the native form produced by fermentation as well as in dispersions of nano and microparticles. The study will be carried out through the experimental determination of the rheological parameters which describe the viscous and viscoelastic behavior of fluids: viscosity , storage modulus and loss modulus. The rheological parameters will be related with the operational conditions of fermentation, like aeration and agitation and the molecular weight of the HA produced. For the dispersions of nano and microparticles, the rheological parameters will be related with the cross-linking agent and cross-linking grade, size and polidispersity of particles, zeta potential volumetric fraction of particles and temperature. The viscous and viscoelastic behavior will be also characterized through classic mathematical models of the literature.The increasing interest of the pharmaceutical and cosmetic markets on the development of new formulations, which assure the quality of their products as well as the acceptability of their products by the consumers, generate the necessity of the rheological characterization of those fluids, in order to predict the characteristics and behavior of the solutions as a function of their physical-chemistry properties. The hyaluronic acid (HA) is a linear high-molecular-weight glycosaminoglucan polysaccharide with has a great range of medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications owing to its ability to retain large volumes of water, lubrication capability and biocompatibility.