Hydration State and Hyaluronidase Treatment Significantly Affect Porcine Vocal Fold Biomechanics.
Chenwei Duan, Julian M Jimenez, Craig Goergen and 3 others
PMID 33541766WHAT IT FOUND
Dehydration and removal of hyaluronic acid both significantly increased the stiffness of excised pig vocal folds in this lab study.
These findings support the theory that hydration maintains vocal fold mechanics, but do not prove that drinking water or hyaluronic acid injections improve voice in humans.
Key findings
01Dehydrating vocal folds in a hypertonic solution significantly increased their stiffness compared to controls, and rehydration in saline only partially recovered this stiffness.
02Treating vocal folds with hyaluronidase to remove hyaluronic acid significantly increased tissue stiffness compared to untreated controls.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used excised pig vocal folds, not living human tissue, so the results may not translate directly to human voice production. The dehydration was simulated by soaking tissue in a hypertonic salt solution, which is not the same as systemic dehydration in a living person. The rehydration protocol (soaking in saline) resulted in only a partial recovery of stiffness, suggesting that simple rehydration may not fully restore tissue mechanics after severe dehydration. Hyaluronidase may have affected other components of the tissue matrix besides hyaluronic acid, so the change in stiffness cannot be attributed solely to hyaluronic acid loss.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that drinking more water or receiving hyaluronic acid injections will restore vocal fold stiffness in patients. This study only showed that these factors affect tissue mechanics in dead pig tissue in a lab setting, not that they improve voice outcomes in living humans.