New materials based on hyaluronic acid and egg albumin mixture

In this work, new materials based on the mixture of hyaluronic acid and albumin from chicken eggs have been studied. Tests were carried out to determine the molecular weight of the tested hyaluronic acids. The properties of hyaluronic acid were investigated and significant differences were found in the mechanical properties of the tested compound, depending on its molecular weight. It was found that egg albumin can be combined with hyaluronic acid and thin films can be obtained. Spectrometric tests were performed both for pure compounds and for mixtures of hyaluronic acid with chicken egg albumin. IR spectroscopy showed that interactions between hyaluronic acid and egg albumin are mainly by hydrogen bonds, as the shifts in the main bands in IR spectra were observed. The addition of egg albumin to hyaluronic acid leads to the decrease of its mechanical properties. The deterioration of the mechanical properties of polymer films from HA-albumin mixtures may be due to interactions between compounds which were shown in the IR spectra. The thin films based on hyaluronic acid and egg albumin blend can be used as adhesive materials in biomedicine and cosmetics. Both biopolymers are biocompatible and biodegradable so we can expect a biocompatible and biodegradable material for potential application as adhesives.