Living (pig) cartilage in contact with synovium lost both proteoglycan and collagen and sometimes became reduced to a mass of fibroblast-like chondrocytes without matrix ; dead cartilage lost proteoglycan but less collagen. Similar changes appeared in living cartilage grown at a distance from the synovium but in the same dish; dead cartilage was unaffected. Conclusion: the synovium has a) a direct, presumably enzymatic action on cartilage matrix and b) an indirect effect mediated through the chondrocytes.A conspicuous feature of rheumatoid and some other types of arthritis is the hypertrophy of the synovial membrane, which becomes heavily infiltrated with lymphocytes and plasma cells; this is correlated with the breakdown of the articular cartilage and its gradual replacement by synovial pannus. It is not entirely clear whether the pannus destroys and invades the cartilage or

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