Effect of anticoagulants on the plasma hyaluronidase activities

AbstractMammalian hyaluronidases (HAases) are an endo‐β‐N‐acetyl‐hexosaminidases that degrade hyaluronan (HA) and have been implicated in diverse pathophysiological functions. Several pathological conditions, such as diabetes, monoclonal gammapathy, and bladder and prostate tumors, report the distorted plasma HAase activity. However, the plasma HAase (hHyal‐1) activity has been presumed to change with the circulating HA level and serves as an early marker for several diseases. It has been generally practised to use the anticoagulants such as tri‐sodium citrate/di‐sodium EDTA/heparin for the preparation of plasma for both biochemical and clinical analyses. In the present investigation, theeffect of anticoagulants on plasma HAaseactivity was evaluated and compared with the serum HAase activity that is devoid of anticoagulants as no study provides information in this regard. The results suggested that the plasma HAase activity in the presence of the recommended concentration of EDTA was highly comparable/similar to that of the serum HAase activity. In contrast, citrated or heparinized plasma recorded a significantly reduced level of activity than that of the serum HAase activity. In conclusion, our results suggested that the EDTA‐treated plasma samples are a better choice compared with heparin and citrated samples to assess the HAase activity. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 23:29–33, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.