Characteristics of fresh human cartilage

Hagerty, Richard C.; Calhoon, T. B.; Lee, W. H.; Cuttino, John T.

doi:10.1097/00006534-196004000-00030

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Hagerty et al . (2) in 1960, using human costal cartilage from “fresh cadavers,” carried out histologic examinations and studies of metabolism and water and electrolyte exchanges. Our present study is an attempt to record the histochemical changes which occur within normal human cartilage as a result of aging.…”

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Biochemical Studies of Human Cartilage During the Aging Process*

Miles

Eichelberger

1964

J American Geriatrics Society

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The major changes associated with the degeneration of human joints occur in the articular cartilage. However, the distinction between the degenerative process and the normal aging process has not been made definitively. Recent articles have emphasized the histologic aspects of the degenerative changes, but these same changes have not been studied histochemically. There have been some biochemical studies on human costal cartilage, but this cartilage was obtained at autopsy. Iob and Swanson (1) in 1937, working with fetal epiphyseal and costal cartilage, determined the extracellular and intracellular water by means of electrolyte studies. Their material was obtained at autopsy, eight to sixteen hours after death. Hagerty et al.(2) in 1960, using human costal cartilage from "fresh cadavers," carried out histologic examinations and studies of metabolism and water and electrolyte exchanges. Our present study is an attempt to record the histochemical changes which occur within normal human cartilage as a result of aging.Acquisition of normal human articular cartilage proved to be difficult. Tissue obtained at autopsy could not be used because of the electrolyte shifts that take place during and following death. We therefore found it necessary to use cartilage from surgical specimens. However, if the surgical operation was being performed for disease or degeneration of the joint, the cartilage of that joint could not be regarded as normal. It was necessary to rely upon cartilage removed from joints not affected by disease or degeneration. Our major source of cartilage was from amputation specimens. For example, if the amputation had been performed to remove a malignant lesion involving the proximal femur, then the articular surfaces of the knee and foot might be normal. However, even in these instances, 1 2 J. S. MILES AND L. EICHELBERGERVol. X I I if the patient had experienced prolonged disability as a result of sarcoma, the cartilage would show evidence of atrophy and could not be considered normal.Other abnormalities also necessitated the discarding of specimens, e.g., significant degenerative arthritis or disease demonstrated roentgenographically, microscopically, or on gross examination. Thus many factors were considered before the cartilage specimen was accepted. These decisions had to be made with uniformit'y, and therefore were made each time by JSM, although the specimens were obtained from the clinics at both the University of Colorado and the University of Chicago.The cartilage accepted for this study was handled in a manner identical with that described in previous papers (3-5). In most instances the amount of material from a single joint was sufficient for the analyses. There was no combining of cartilage from different joints, except from those of the foot; in the foot, the amount of cartilage provided by one intertarsal joint was so small that all the material obtained from these joints was combined for analyses. The dry samples were ground to a fine powder as previously described (6).The analyses of the...

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confidence: 99%

Biochemical Studies of Human Cartilage During the Aging Process*

Miles

Eichelberger

1964

J American Geriatrics Society

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“…The data concerning the rate of aerobic cartilage energy met abolism differ very much in the literature [18,22,55,64,68,77,90,91,117]. In general the in vitro oxygen consumption rates reported show a very low range (tab.…”

Section: Main Metabolic Pathway Enzyme Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 86%

Enzyme Activity Determinations in Bone and Cartilage

Delbrück¹

1970

Enzymol Biol Clin

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The data on bone and cartilage enzymology available in the literature and gained by our own experiments were reviewed and discussed in respect to their metabolic significance in bone and cartilage cell metabolism. Enzyme distribution patterns of main metabolic pathway enzymes reflect the metabolic features of these tissues suggesting a predominant anaerobic energy and intermediary metabolism. Enzyme activities of matrix components synthesizing enzymes as well as degrading enzymes are responsible for the maintainance of the biological steady state of the macromolecular matrix components which enables bone and cartilage tissue to perform their specific biological functions.

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“…One of cartilage's unique properties is a low metabolic rate compared with other tissues. The metabolic rate is estimated to be one hundredth to one five‐hundredth of that for other human tissues 11 . Cartilage is avascular and supports a very sparse cell (chondrocyte) population, factors which account for low oxygen consumption and near‐anaerobic conditions within the cartilage.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%