Proteoglycan biosynthesis as a determinant of patella damage in the murine antigen-induced arthritis model

The incorporation of 35SO4 into cartilage proteoglycan has been employed as a measure of patella damage in the murine antigen-induced arthritis model. In a preliminary set of experiments, where both the proteoglycan concentration and 35SO4 incorporation were determined in control and arthritic patella over a 2 day to 6 day week period, the arthritic joint contained significantly higher levels of radioactivity compared with the controls. A subsequent study over an extended period of 10 weeks confirmed the earlier results, and indicated that the 6 week samples showed the greatest difference (71%) in 35SO4 incorporation between the arthritic and control patella.