Polydispersity of human articular cartilage proteoglycan antigens.

Studies were undertaken to define more fully the antigenic properties of human articular cartilage proteoglycans, in anticipation of its potential contribution to alterations arising in diseased states and following cartilage transplantation. Proteoglycans, extracted from normal, adult articular cartilage by dissociative measures, were subjected to purification by cesium density gradient ultracentrifugation, under conditions facilitating both molecular aggregation and dissociation. A polydisperse population of reactive determinants was observed in immunodiffusion and hemagglutination inhibition systems, employing proteoglycan specific antisera on gradient fractions. Highly aggregated proteoglycan species appeared to contain potentially masked antigenic determinants, which were revealed after guanidine dissociation but not hyaluronidase digestion. Polyacrilamide disc gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate, in conjunction with disc elution experiments, confirmed proteoglycan antigenic polydispersity.