Abstract
AQUEOUS extracts of mammalian testis contain a 'spreading' factor which dramatically increases the permeability of the skin to injected fluids. This factor is associated with the germinal epithelium and can be extracted from spermatozoa1. Factors with similar diffusing properties have been obtained from the most diverse sources, for example, from culture-filtrates and extracts of many species of invasive bacteria2, from snake and spider venoms3 and from leeches4. Chain and Duthie5 reported a remarkable mucolytic activity of these extracts characterized by a rapid fall in the viscosity of synovial fluid and the liberation of reducing substances. This observation has been confirmed and extended by other workers and it appears that these spreading factors are closely associated if not identical with a group of enzymes that hydrolyse the hyaluronic acid of the synovial fluid, vitreous humour, umbilical cord and skin6, and which are therefore known as hyaluronidases.
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MCCLEAN, D., ROWLANDS, I. ROLE OF HYALURONIDASE IN FERTILIZATION. Nature 150, 627–628 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150627a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150627a0
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