In vitro influence of ketoprofen on the proteoglycan metabolism of human normal and osteoarthritis cartilage.

We investigated the influences of ketoprofen on the proteoglycan (PG) turnover of human articular cartilage explants in three groups: normal young with a high basal PG synthesis, normal adult and osteoarthritis cartilage, both with a low basal PG synthesis. Ketoprofen had no influence on the mean PG synthesis rate of normal adult and OA cartilage after 4 days of culture nor on the cartilage PG content after 8 days of culture. There was no relation between the histological grade of OA and effects of ketoprofen. In normal young cartilage ketoprofen induced an increase of the PG synthesis rate when added to the culture in a concentration of 10(-4) M. No correlation existed between the effect of ketoprofen and the basal PG synthesis of normal cartilage.