Effects of joint loading on articular cartilage collagen metabolism: assay of procollagen prolyl 4-hydroxylase and galactosylhydroxylysyl glucosyltransferase.

The degree of joint loading on the femoral head cartilage was experimentally altered in dogs by splinting of the knee joint for 11 weeks (n = 9), and making another group (n = 6) to run on a treadmill with 15 degrees uphill inclination during a period of 15 weeks (4 km/day, 5 days a week). A third group (n = 9) served as controls. The influence of these altered loading conditions on articular cartilage collagen synthesis was measured by assaying the activity of procollagen prolyl 4-hydroxylase (PPH) and galactosylhydroxylysyl glucosyltransferase (GGT) in chondrocytes. The average activity of PPH was 11-13% elevated in the runner and contralateral (more loaded) cartilages, while the splinted (unloaded) cartilages showed a significant (53%) increase of PPH. In some samples of the runner, splinted and contralateral cartilages the activity of GGT was also high, but the differences did not reach statistical significance. The increase of the activity of PPH, combined with unaltered total content of collagen, indicates that the synthesis of collagen and probably also its turnover, are enhanced in the cartilage atrophied due to reduced weight-bearing, but only slightly, if at all in the cartilages subjected to moderately elevated loading.