Assay of synovial fluid parameters: hyaluronan concentration as a potential marker for joint diseases.

Synovial fluids from the knees of patients with degenerative joint disease (n = 29), osteoarthritis (n = 16), diabetic arthropathy (n = 12), gout (n = 7) and acute inflammatory joint disease (n = 7) were investigated by high-performance size-exclusion chromatography combined with multiangle laser light scattering detection and differential refractometry. These data were compared with the viscosities of the same samples measured by rotation viscometry with one low shear rate, as well as with C reactive protein. The median value of the weight-average molecular weight of hyaluronan in synovial fluids, which differed less than the viscosity of these groups, varied between 1.