Biochemical Isolation and Characterization of Hyaluronidase Enzyme from Venom of Egyptian Honey Bee Apis Mellifera Lamarckii

The hyaluronidase enzyme has been used in many such fields of medicine as ophthalmology, orthopaedia, internal medicine, gynecology, surgery, oncology and dermatology. In this study, the hyaluronidase enzyme was purified and characterized for the first time from Egyptian bee venom homogeneously using DEAE-cellulose and Sephacryl S-300 columns. Bee venom hyaluronidase specific activity was 411.7 units/mg protein with 49.9% yield and 3.23-fold purification. The molecular weight of the purified bee venom hyaluronidase native form was 37 kDa. The purified enzyme was found homogeneous on native PAGE and SDS-PAGE, with two congruent subunits of 18.4 kDa and isoelectric point (pI) of 8.6–8.8. The enzyme was found to be stable over a wide range of temperature (20–60°C) and pH (4.5–6.5), and its optimum activity at 37°C, pH 5.4 and 0.15 M NaCl. K^m for bee venom hyaluronidase was 0.029 mg/ml hyaluronic acid and its activity was elevated in presence of MgCl₂ and ZnCl₂ and lowered in presence of FeCl₂. Heparin inhibited the hyaluronidase enzyme noncompetitively with a Ki value of 2.9 units heparin and one binding site on the enzyme molecule.