The compositio of bovine cartilage and bone

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1. 1. Articular and epiphyseal plate cartilage, primary and secondary spongiosa of metaphyses and compact cortical bone from bovine long bones were analyzed for their content of nitrogen, water, ash, calcium, phosphorus, chondroitin sulfate, keratan sulfate, sialic acid and protein-polysaccharides. 2. 2. The collagen content of the organic matrix of calf articular cartilage (63.7%) is greater than epiphyseal plate cartilage (56.2%), but less than primary spongiosa (75.8%), secondary spongiosa (79.5%), or cortex (79.2%). The collagen content of the organic matrix of fetal articulawr cartilage (46.%) was less than that of the calf. 3. 3. The chondroitin sulfate content of the organic matrix of calf epiphyseal plate cartilage (33.9%) is greater than articular cartilage (25.3%), primary spongiosa (.9%), secondary spongiosa (1.1%), or cortex (0.8%); the concentration in the calf of keratan sulfate (4.36, 3.69, 3.29, 0.70, 0.86%) and sialic acid (0.69, 0.52, 0.41, 0.35, 0.25%) decreased in the same anatomical order. These polysaccharide materials were present in greater amounts in the fetal tissues. 4. 4. The protein-polysaccharide light fraction (PP-l) isolated from articular and epiphyseal plate cartilage of calves and fetuses does not vary greatly, but fetal PP-L fraction contained less protein than that of the calf, and articular PP-L fraction contained less protein than that from epiphyseal plate cartilage. 5. 5. Protein-polysaccharide isolated from spongiosa following collagenase digestion is similar to the PP-L fraction from other sources except for its lower content protein (6.9%).