Articular cartilage, blood serum glycosaminoglycans and glycoproteins in osteoarthritis deformans.

Glycosaminoglycans in articular cartilage from human femoral heads have been isolated and fractionated by means of a cellulose microscale technique. The glucosaminoglycans have been identified by different procedures as keratan sulphate, hyaluronic acid, heparitin sulphate, chondroitin 4-sulphate, chondroitin 6-sulphate and dermatan sulphate. Osteoarthritic cartilage showed a significant reduction of dermatan sulphate, chondroitin 6-sulphate, keratan sulphate and heparitin sulphate. The content of glycoprotein carbohydrate components in the cartilage (neuraminic acid derivatives, hexoses, 6-deoxyhexoses) also appeared to be reduced. It has been shown that chondroitin 4-sulphate, keratan sulphate and dermatan sulphate content was considerably increased in osteoarthritic serum. Among serum glycoprotein carbohydrate constituents only the content of 6-deoxyhexoses was slightly increased.