Combinatorial-designed Hyaluronic Acid Nanoparticles for Tumour Targeted Drug and Small Interfering Ribonucleic Acid Delivery - Hyaluronic Acid for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Applications - page 89

4 Physicochemical Analysis of Hyaluronic

Acid Powder for Cosmetic and
Pharmaceutical Processing

Lubomír Lap č ík, Eva Otyepková, Barbora Lap č íková,
Michal Otyepka, Jakub Vl č ek and Ivana Kupská

4.1 Introduction

Granular materials are used in many different applications and
industries, such as basic construction materials, agriculture, fillers
for synthetic polymers, cosmetic and pharmaceutical processing
and the food industry [1]. Many practical engineering applications
involve handling, flow and storage of bulk solids (e.g., pelletising,
particle size reduction, tableting, mixing, packaging) and so require
knowledge and understanding of flow properties of the particular
solids and surface energy distribution. Several conventional properties
of powders are known to affect how they flow (such as particle
size and shape, moisture content and surface chemistry) but these
properties do not consistently correlate with experimental powder
flow behaviour. This has led to the requirement for the measurement
of more specific powder flow properties such as internal and wall
friction, bulk density, cohesion and flow function.

Hyaluronic acid (HA), a high molecular weight (MW)
biopolysaccharide, was discovered by Meyer and Palmer in 1934 in
the vitreous humour of cattle eyes [2]. HA is a member of a group
of similar polysaccharides that have been termed 'connective tissue
polysaccharides', 'mucopolysaccharides', or 'glycosaminoglycans'.
These polysaccharides include chondroitin sulfate, dermatan
sulfate, keratan sulfate, heparan sulfate, and heparin. HA is a