Observations on Respiration in Articular Cartilage *

LITTLE was known about the metabolism of articular cartilage till 1936, when Bywaters1 published the first quantitative data on the subject. He reported a well-defined glucolysis, equivalent per cell to that of other adult tissues, but was unable to demonstrate an appreciable utilization of oxygen. It seemed improbable that a tissue without any respiratory ability could synthesise the complex constituents of its matrix. Since Bywaters had employed old equine cartilage in his study, reinvestigation of the problem, using cartilage of young as well as of older animals, seemed worth while. Accordingly, bovine articular cartilage secured from young, adult, and old animals was employed.