Evaluation of Effect of Fe3O4 Magnetic Beads on Hyaluronic Acid Crude Extraction: Simplified Process and Improved Yield

Abstract

Hyaluronic Acid (HA) has been widely used in the fields of medicine, cosmetics, food and tissue engineering, because of its specific properties, however, it is still in short supply at present. In this study, we applied Fe3O4 magnetic beads (MBs) to HA crude extraction in order to improve the yield by increasing its extraction rate. In the whole optimization process for the strategy, particle size, amount and surface property were considered. Results showed that micron MBs without functional treatment were more suitable for HA crude extraction. The recovery rate for HA standard solution (500 mg/L) reached 96.86% with 2 mg MBs, which was highest. Moreover, MBs load capacity test showed that HA with 2 g/L concentration in 2 mL system could also be effectively recovered. Finally, the method was applied to crude extraction of HA from Streptococcus iniae fermentation broth. Results from five repeated experiments showed that the HA yield obtained by MBs method was increased by 16%–25%, which was significantly higher than that of traditional ethanol precipitation method, and could be completed within 1 h. Moreover, after purification, there was no significant difference in protein content between the two. Therefore, the MBs crude extraction method has great potential application value to improve HA yield in industrial production.