The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 61, Issue 3 407-416, Copyright © 1979 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Metabolic activity of articular cartilage in osteoarthritis. An in vitro study
RC Thompson and TR Oegema
Biochemical changes and in vitro rates of glycosaminoglycan synthesis were
studied in thirty-seven samples of human articular cartilage from nineteen
osteoarthritic and four normal control patients who were fifty to
seventy-five years old. The samples were compared on the basis of
histological grade of the arthritis, and subgroups based on the duration of
disease, synovial pathological changes, joint studied, and sex were also
compared. The osteoarthritic samples showed a progressive loss of
glycosaminoglycans in the cartilage as the histological grade increased. In
the early stages of the disease there was an increase in the chondroitin
sulphate content as well as in the rate of glycosaminoglycan synthesis in
several cases when the values for the osteoarthritic articular-cartilage
samples were compared with those for the age-matched controls. In the late
stages there was a progressive decrease in the rate of glycosaminoglycan
synthesis and a relative decrease in chrondroitin sulphate synthesis
compared with keratan sulphate synthesis, and these decreases were highly
correlated with the histological grade.
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