Artist Da S once said such a sentence in her "Beauty King 2", she said: "Hyaluronic acid is like the clay that God used to make Adam and Eve." "When it comes to hyaluronic acid today, people's first reaction is that it is closely related to beauty and makeup. In fact, the initial function of hyaluronic acid was in the medical field. In the 70s of the last century, countless cataract patients in China waited for hyaluronic acid treatment, but the hyaluronic acid extraction technology was monopolized by the United States, and the Americans developed hyaluronic acid and sold it to China for 200,000 US dollars per kilogram, and they threatened to give another 20 years, and China could not master the hyaluronic acid technology. At that time, there was a young man who plunged headlong into the laboratory to do research. In the past 40 years, he has made Chinese hyaluronic acid from scratch, and finally occupied 80% of the global hyaluronic acid market. This person is the "father of Chinese hyaluronic acid" - Ling Peixue. In 1934, Carl Meyer, a professor of ophthalmology at Columbia University, accidentally extracted a polysaccharide from the vitreous humor of the bull's eye, namely hyaluronic acid, also known as sodium hyaluronate, in an experiment. When translating this word, Chinese Taiwanese scholars mistook uronic acid (uronic acid) for uric acid, so they mistranslated this polysaccharide as "hyaluronic acid". Hyaluronic acid was born. Many people may not have much concept of hyaluronic acid. It is the main component of connective tissues such as somatic interstitium, vitreous oculum, and synovial fluid of joints, which retains water, regulates osmotic pressure, lubricates, and promotes cell repair in the body. Just like the lubricating fluid hidden in our body, once the content is reduced, it will soon become rough and wrinkled, the joints will become inflamed, the arteries will harden, and in severe cases, it will lead to brain atrophy. However, the amount of hyaluronic acid in the human body is very scarce, the amount of hyaluronic acid in the human body is only 15 grams, and it is gradually lost with age. Human aging, relaxation, and deterioration of body functions are all related to the loss of hyaluronic acid to a certain extent. Therefore, at that time, whether artificial hyaluronic acid could be made became a topic in front of scientists. This topic carries the pursuit of youth and immortality of countless people, and whoever overcomes it can make a lot of money. At the end of the 70s of the 20th century, American scholar Endre Balazs discovered a method for extracting hyaluronic acid from the crown on the basis of previous research, and applied for a patent, and the hyaluronic acid technology achieved a breakthrough. But at that time, about 200 kilograms of chicken comb could extract 1 kilogram of hyaluronic acid, and the yield was extremely low, so at that time, hyaluronic acid was more expensive than **, and was called "liquid**", and later, hyaluronic acid was creatively used in the human body and became an important material in eye surgery. The value of hyaluronic acid has been further proven, and there is no one happier than Americans. They have "liquids" in their hands, and if other countries want it, they have to come and buy it from me. At the same time, they are very chicken thieves to block the extraction technology of hyaluronic acid, trying to prevent other countries from coming to share the pie from the root. In the 80s of the last century, China's medical technology was backward, and hyaluronic acid, as an important substance for cataracts, could not be developed by ourselves, so we had to import it from the United States. The Americans, of course, will not miss such an opportunity to make a windfall, and they have spotted the potential of the Chinese market, opening up for $200,000 per kilogram. At that time, the average monthly income of Chinese was only 40 yuan, and 200,000 US dollars was undoubtedly astronomical, and countless cataract patients could only look away and let their vision continue to decline and cause blindness. The United States even threatened that if China is given another 20 years, it will not be able to master the technology of hyaluronic acid. At this time, a young man named Ling Peixue resolutely stood up. Ling Peixue was born in the Yimeng Mountains of Shandong Province and is a typical farmer's child. At the age of 6, he had to cut 35 catties of pigweed by himself, and after school, he had to help the family herd cattle, feed pigs, and cook. The harsh environment did not diminish his motivation to study. In 1983, at the age of 20, Ling Peixue was admitted to Shandong Medical University as a graduate student, under the supervision of one of the founders of Chinese biochemical pharmacy.
1. Professor Zhang Tianmin, an expert in biochemical pharmacy. 
Professor Zhang identified three research objects from the fields he was involved in, and let his three ** be "divided". One of the three chose heparin and the other chose thymus, and the hyaluronic acid fell into the hands of Ling Peixue. Ling Peixue has only seen the scientific name of hyaluronic acid in the literature. As for what it looks like and what kind of substance it is, Ling Peixue doesn't know anything about it. But he checked,—— after the discovery of hyaluronic acid by Carl Meiye, an American ophthalmology professor in 1934, new results were born one after another. In China, everything is blank, and no imports have been realized, and it is only up to people to bring back hyaluronic acid injections from abroad for clinical use. We, apparently, are many years slower. At that time, no one in China knew what hyaluronic acid looked like, and there was no computer to retrieve information. Ling Peixue, who got the topic, was in the library, from morning to night, and stayed for a month. In the end, he found that the highest levels of hyaluronic acid in animals were in connective tissue, eyeballs, umbilical cord and synovial fluid. In that case, let's start with these organizations. Since then, Ling Peixue has to go to the obstetrics and gynecology department of the hospital every week to get the umbilical cord. After the obstetrician delivers the baby, he rinses the umbilical cord with blood and amniotic fluid, and then places the long umbilical cord in a jar containing acetone. After a week, I can save a big bottle. Ling Peixue returned to the laboratory with the umbilical cord, peeled it off with surgical scissors, removed the blood vessels, and fed the material. The process was cumbersome and slightly "bloody", but in the end, hyaluronic acid was finally prepared from this umbilical cord, which was a breakthrough of 0. However, the amount of hyaluronic acid that can be extracted from the umbilical cord is very limited, and even if it is successfully developed in the future, it will be difficult to cover the huge population base of China. So what to do? Since the umbilical cord does not meet the demand, it is better to look for it from the animal's eyeballs. Ling Peixue then went to the Hailar Meat Factory in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, and dug up the bull's eyes one by one; I went to Laiyang Biochemical Medicine and Jinan Meat Factory to dig up pig eyes, and then cut the bull's eyes after freezing them, and took out the vitreous. 
During that time, Ling Peixue simply lived in the factory, went down to the workshop with the workers for several months, and worked on the slaughtering line every day wearing pig killing clothes and rain boots. The extraction and preparation of sodium hyaluronate requires aseptic operation. It takes about a month from raw materials to preparations. This month, Ling Peixue and his team entered the sterile laboratory from the morning every day, and only came out at night, and they couldn't eat or drink in the middle. The summer lab is like a big steamer, and they stay in diapers all day. In winter, the laboratory is like a natural ice cellar, causing their hands and feet to be covered with frostbite. At the same time, in order to ensure sterility, Ling Peixue and his colleagues must also operate under ultraviolet lamps. The intensity of ultraviolet radiation is extremely high, and working continuously in this environment, Ling Peixue and his colleagues often roll in bed uncomfortably. However, although life is hard, Ling Peixue is very satisfied. At that time, he had a belief in his heart - "we must let Chinese use our own hyaluronic acid". Under the leadership of the teacher, Ling Peixue's team finally developed a unique hyaluronic acid biological extraction technology and prepared cosmetic-grade hyaluronic acid from chicken comb. On New Year's Day in 1986, this research achievement completed the appraisal of provincial scientific and technological achievements. Also in 1986, Ling Peixue graduated with a master's degree. The Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce allocated 30,000 yuan for entrepreneurship, and Ling Peixue officially launched the research on the industrialization of hyaluronic acid in China. The research room is a garage in the commercial hall, about 20 square meters, and the pool for water is all outdoors, and the pool for car washing. Ling Peixue took two colleagues, one old and one young, to form a team, and all of them went into battle to build the platform, get the water supply and water, and support the experimental equipment. At this time, Malaysia Nanyuan Yongfang Group, which has been looking for good raw materials, came to visit. In 1988, the "Yongfang Advanced Body Lotion" produced by Ling Peixue's technology was put on sale, and Chinese beauty-loving women began to really get in touch with "hyaluronic acid". In department stores around the world, the best counters have been covered with this product with the main moisturizing function. In two years, the sales revenue of Yongfang Advanced Body Lotion reached 400 million yuan. 
Ling Peixue and his teammates are proud, but he doesn't stop there. The core field of hyaluronic acid is in medicine, and it must not just be a cosmetic. In order to allow hyaluronic acid to be used in medicines, Ling Peixue invested in experimental work. He led the team to use biomanufacturing technology to prepare hyaluronic acid, extracted from microorganisms, first fermented, then purified, and then refined, and successfully achieved mass production of hyaluronic acid with biomanufacturing technology in the early 90s. Since then, the cost of hyaluronic acid extraction has been greatly reduced, with cosmetic-grade hyaluronic acid reduced from tens of thousands of yuan per kilogram to several thousand yuan, and pharmaceutical-grade hyaluronic acid from US$200,000 to 200,000 yuan, directly reversing China's dependence on imported hyaluronic acid raw materials. 
In 1993, Ling Peixue's team successfully developed sodium hyaluronate injection (a class II new drug) for ophthalmology. After the invention of this product, the originally lengthy cataract process** was reduced to a four- to five-minute outpatient operation, helping 2 million cataract patients regain their sight every year. In 1994, Ling Peixue discovered that mixing sodium hyaluronate with the broad-spectrum antibiotic chloramphenicol can persist on the surface of the cornea and conjunctiva of the eye, and has the effect of relieving dry eyes. In that year, the world's first eye drops containing hyaluronic acid were launched, "Runshu", which was used for eye diseases such as conjunctivitis. Later, the eye drops with the function of relieving eye fatigue were launched, "Moisturizing". In 1996, Ling Peixue's team developed the injection of hyaluronic acid injected into the femoral joint box, which can relieve joint pain for 1 million people every year. In addition, Chinese hyaluronic acid has also been favored by countless cosmetics brands. Up to now, Shiseido, Estee Lauder, Lancôme and other brands will be purchased in China, and China has become the world's largest producer and seller of hyaluronic acid raw materials. In 2020, the total sales volume of hyaluronic acid raw materials in China accounted for 81% of the total global sales6%, the top five companies in the world in terms of sales of hyaluronic acid raw materials are all from China. 40 years ago, Americans said we couldn't, but now we provide 80% of hyaluronic acid raw materials, leading the world. Eighteen years ago, Singapore's Ministry of Health investigated and found that a number of people who used Bausch & Lomb's Eyewear Solution suffered from fungal keratitis, and the care solution produced by Dr. & Lomb in the United States was discontinued in the Singapore market. When the crisis came, the boss of this large American company first thought of Ling Peixue. He urgently arranged a special plane to pick up the Chinese expert to the United States to study countermeasures. Before the plane landed, Ling Peixue resolved the crisis in the laboratory, and he added sodium hyaluronate to the care solution to prevent the infection caused by the preservatives of the original product. One year, Ling Peixue accompanied the delegation to inspect the United States, and the American scientist Borush, who was carrying out research on the industrialization of sodium hyaluronate, quickly came to him, visited the thatched house, and strongly invited Ling Peixue to work with him in the United States. "I have the best labs in the world, the best factories, the best treatment," Borush said. If you are engaged in scientific research on sodium hyaluronate here, the efficiency will be greatly improved. But Ling Peixue declined: "The conditions you gave are indeed very generous, but I always feel that the hyaluronic acid business can develop better in China." "Forty years of scientific research is Ling Peixue's silent cultivation of research, and it is also a patriotic heart. Ling Peixue, who is now 61 years old, mentioned several research directions worthy of attention in the future: the first is to study the protective effect of hyaluronic acid on cells, including antioxidant, free radical scavenging, prolonging activity, anti-aging, etc.; the second is the role of hyaluronic acid in preventing tumor cells** and metastasis; the third is anti-cancer drugs or vaccines; The fourth is to study antithrombotic drugs. Any breakthrough in the above research directions in the future will be a great contribution to mankind. 
Zhang Xuefeng was very emotional when he talked about Ling Peixue-".He is someone I admire a lot......In recent years, China's technology has really developed like a blowout, but if you think about it carefully, how can there be any blowout, but it is just a group of people who have supported it for decades. ”
Looking back on the development process of hyaluronic acid in China, it followed foreign countries in the 80s, ran side by side in the 90s, and led the world after 2000. The past and present life of hyaluronic acid is also a microcosm of the history of biomedical development in China.
The story continues, and we, and we will move on. Text: Zheng Siji.