Preparation of tritium-labeled hyaluronic acid oligomers and their use in enzyme studies

Tritium-labeled oligosaccharides can be prepared from hyaluronic acid by the Wilzbach technique with greater ease than usual by use of the specificity of hyaluronidase in the course of purification. Labeled oligomers of hyalobiuronic acid were isolated and shown to be radiochemically homogeneous, and are used in studies of complex enzymic kinetics. The techniques used may have general use in preparing generally labeled oligosaccharides.