Biochemical analysis of normal articular cartilage in horses.

Articular cartilage specimens from the distal articular surface of 32 radiocarpal bones from 24 2- to 5-year-old horses were analyzed. The total collagen content was determined on the basis of the 4-hydroxyproline content, using a colorimetric method. A method for estimating the proportions of types-I and -II collagen by measuring spectrophotometric densities of specific cyanogen bromide peptide bands from mixtures of types-I and -II collagen on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels was used. The cyanogen bromide peptides representative of each collagen types-I and -II were identified. The peptide ratios were then computed for each of several standards of type-I and -II mixtures. A standard curve was derived from the correlation between these ratios and the corresponding proportions of type-II collagen in standard mixtures. Galactosamine and glucosamine content (hexosamines) were measured by ion chromatography. The galactosamine-to-glucosamine ratio, chondroitin sulfate and keratan sulfate values, and total glycosaminoglycan content were derived from the measured hexosamine content. The total collagen content averaged 556 mg/g (55.6 mg/100 mg) of tissue (dry weight, [dw]). Type-II collagen was the major collagen type in normal articular cartilage specimens. The ratio of the area under the alpha 1 (II)CB10 peak to the area under the alpha 1 (I)CB 7,8 + alpha 1 (II)CB11 peak was a second-order polynomial function of the proportion of type-II collagen in the specimens. The mean galactosamine and glucosamine content were 20.6 mg/g and 7.9 mg/g (dw), respectively. The mean galactosamine-to-glucosamine ratio was 3.74 +/- 0.62.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)