Water content of equine articular cartilage: effects of enzymatic degradation and "artificial fibrillation".

A method is described for accurate and reproducible determination of wet and dry weights of small articular cartilage samples. The water content of the articular cartilage samples before and after treatment with selective degradative enzymes and "artificial fibrillation" was determined. It was found that the water content of articular cartilage can be altered by changing the physical and chemical composition of articular cartilage. The combination of protein polysaccharide degradation and "fibrillation" causes an increase in articular cartilage water content, while collagenase and the combination of collagenase and "fibrillation" causes a decrease. The relationship between these findings and function of normal and osteoarthritic cartilage is discussed.