Hyaluronic acid is the major glycosaminoglycan characteristically secreted in culture by human synovial fibroblastic cells, but stimulated proteoglycan synthesis, as well as hyaluronic acid synthesis, was observed when a partially purified factor from bovine bone, containing "matrigenin" activity, was added to these cells. Cultures were labelled with [35S]SO4 and [3H]glucosamine and the radioactive glycoconjugates were extracted from the medium under dissociative conditions. After a preliminary separation of the radioactive high molecular weight compounds, the proteoglycans were separated from hyaluronic acid and glycoproteins by ion-exchange chromatography in 8 M urea. The proteoglycan fraction from the fibroblastic cells, whose synthesis was stimulated by the "matrigenin" activity, contained at least two species, the lower molecular weight proteoglycan eluting in the range of 400-600 K under dissociative conditions during gel filtration chromatography.

1. Human synovial fibroblastic cells were cultured in the presence and absence of an extract from bovine bone containing “matrigenin” activity. The rate of incorporation of radioactivity into the glycosaminoglycans of the medium of “matrigenin”-treated cultures increased after 24 hr of incubation, compared to “controls”. 2. Higher serum concentrations had a greater effect on the incorporation of radioactivity into hyaluronic acid synthesized by “matrigenin”-treated cultures, than by “controls”. 3. Incorporation of radioactive precursors into the proteoglycans isolated from the medium was greater in the “matrigenin”-treated cultures than in “controls”. The synthesis of a large mol. wt proteoglycan was specifically stimulated.

The in vivo incorporation of radioactivity from [14C]GlcN, [14C]GalN, [14C]Glc and [14C]Gal, for different time intervals between 1 and 240 hr into whole tissues, acetone extracted tissues and MPS-P of the different parts of the reproductive system of the female fowl was studied. The incorporation of radioactivity was much more extensive when [14C]GlcN was injected than when [14C]GalN was injected. The incorporation of radioactivity was much more extensive when [14C]HexN was injected than when the corresponding [14C]Hex was injected. This difference of incorporation was greater in the MPS-P than in the fresh or acetone extracted tissues. A comparison was undertaken in the extent that radioactivity was incorporated among the different parts of the reproductive system of the fowl when [14C]HexN and 14C[Hex] were administered.

The objective of this work was to survey and compare the composition of the parts of the reproductive system of the female fowl in glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans. Those parts analyzed were ovary, infundibulum, magnum, isthmus, shell gland and vagina. Methods of analysis included cellulose acetate electrophoresis, infrared spectroscopy, colorimetry, amino acid determination and scanning electron microscopy. Concentrations of glycosaminoglycans were higher in vagina, ovary, infundibulum and isthmus than in shell gland and magnum. Glycosaminoglycans may be important in those parts of the reproductive tract which contribute membraneous and mucosal material to the descending egg, and where fertilization of the egg occurs.