14C-glucose and 35S-metabolism of pig epiphysial cartilage and its variations after osteotomy.

On in vitro incubation of articular and epiphysial cartilage of the ulna of the domestic pig 70 to 80 per cent of [U-14C] glucose was metabolised to 14C-lactate, but cartilage of the epiphysial plate produced up to five times as much 14C-CO2 as articular cartilage, and the specific radioactivity of 14C(or 35S)-chondroitin 4(6)-sulphate isolated from epiphysial cartilage (following 35S-sulphate incorporation) was about twice as high as that of articular cartilage. Six weeks after an osteotomy on both sides of the proximal epiphysial plate of the lift ulna, the glucose uptake, lactate production, and the specific radioactivity of the glycosaminoglycans displayed no significant differences when compared with those of the corresponding epiphysial plate of the control right ulna, whereas a 50 per cent increase in the oxidation of 14C-glucose to 14C-CO2 was observed.