Franzén A, Inerot S, Hejderup S O, Heinegård D
Biochem J. 1981 Jun 1;195(3):535-43. doi: 10.1042/bj1950535.
Punch biopsies of bovine hip articular cartilage was sectioned according to depth and the proteoglycans were isolated. The mid-sections of the cartilage contained more proteoglycans than did either the superficial or the deepest portions of the cartilage proteoglycans than did either the superficial or the deepest portions of the cartilage. The most superficial 40 micrometer of the cartilage contained relatively more glucosaminoglycans compared with the remainder of the cartilage. The proteoglycans recovered from the surface 200 micrometer layer contained less chondroitin sulphate, were smaller and almost all of these molecules were able to interact with hyaluronic acid to form aggregates. From about 200 micrometer and down to 1040 micrometer from the surface, the proteoglycans became gradually somewhat smaller, probably owing to decreasing size of the chondroitin sulphate-rich region. The proportion of molecules that were able to interact with the hyaluronic acid was about 90% and remained constant with depth. The proteoglycans from the deepest layer near the cartilage-bone junction contained a large proportion of non-aggregating molecules, and the average size of the proteoglycans was somewhat larger. The alterations of proteoglycan structure observed with increasing depth of the articular cartilage beneath the surface layer (to 200 micrometer) are of the same nature as those observed with increasing age in full-thickness articular cartilage. The articular-cartilage proteoglycans were smaller and had much higher keratan sulphate and protein contents that did molecules isolated from bovine nasal or tracheal cartilage.
对牛髋关节关节软骨进行打孔活检，并根据深度进行切片，然后分离蛋白聚糖。软骨的中间部分所含的蛋白聚糖比软骨的表层或最深处都要多。软骨最表层的40微米所含的氨基葡聚糖相对比软骨的其余部分要多。从表层200微米处回收的蛋白聚糖所含硫酸软骨素较少，分子较小，而且几乎所有这些分子都能与透明质酸相互作用形成聚集体。从距表面约200微米到1040微米深处，蛋白聚糖逐渐变小，可能是由于富含硫酸软骨素区域的尺寸减小。能够与透明质酸相互作用的分子比例约为90%，并随深度保持恒定。软骨-骨交界处附近最深层的蛋白聚糖含有很大比例的非聚集分子，且蛋白聚糖的平均尺寸稍大一些。随着表层下关节软骨深度增加（至200微米）所观察到的蛋白聚糖结构变化，与在全层关节软骨中随年龄增长所观察到的变化性质相同。关节软骨的蛋白聚糖比从牛鼻或气管软骨中分离出的分子更小，硫酸角质素和蛋白质含量更高。
