timizing Extraction and Purification of Hyaluronic Acid from Fish Eyeballs for Skin Care Applications

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally occurring glycosaminoglycan composed of repeating disaccharide units of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and glucuronic acid. It is found in various tissues, including synovial fluid, skin, and vitreous humor, and exhibits diverse biological properties such as stimulating cell adhesion, migration, and proliferation. Furthermore, HA is highly biocompatible, biodegradable, and non-toxic, which makes it an attractive material for numerous biomedical applications. The goal of the present work is to optimize the extraction and purification of highly purified HA from Nile tilapia eyeballs. In our study, we extracted HA by defatting the vitreous humor with acetone and drying it at ۶۰°C. The material was then subjected to successive washes and centrifugation, and vacuum filtrations were performed between each step. The filtrate was mixed with ۱۰۰ mM sodium acetate buffer and papain, incubated for ۲۴ hours at ۶۰°C, and filtered. The extracted material was then precipitated, dried at ۶۰°C, transferred to a dialysis bag, and lyophilized. To quantify the uronic acid content, we performed carbazole assay and analyzed the sample using FTIR spectroscopy to evaluate the different amino, carboxyl, and hydroxyl groups. According to the results, the extracted HA demonstrated high quality and may be appropriate for use in various skin care applications, such as wound dressings.The extraction methodology used in this study proved to be suitable for obtaining HA from fish eyeballs, presenting enormous applicability and potential to generate high value-added products. Therefore, fish residues have significant potential to generate high-value products, and the extraction methodology developed in this study is a promising method for obtaining high-quality HA for various applications