[A new method for extraction of cartilage proteoglycans: the electrical extraction (author's transl)]

Sections (40 mu thick) or fine powder of baboon articular cartilage were submitted to electric current (40-60 V/cm) in a free zone electrophoretic system and the extraction of proteoglycans from cartilage was followed by histochemical and biochemical methods. An extraction of about 40 per cent of the total hexuronic acid was obtained in 5 hours. The metachromasia showed that the proteoglycans resistant to electrical extraction are found in the chondrocytes lacunae and in the calcified zone. Gel electrophoretic studies showed the absence of proteoglycan aggregates and a material with a migration similar or a little faster than that of proteoglycan subunits. In some experiments a material with the migration of chondroitin sulphate was found. The electrical extraction could give information about the relationship between collagen framework and proteoglycans in the cartilage matrix itself and about proteoglycan organization.