Solid-State MAS NMR Measurements of Intact Articular Bovine Cartilage

R Mark Wellard¹, Alf Pawlik, Sabrina Barheine, Konstantin I. Momot²

The early changes associated with osteoarthritis of articular cartilage are not well understood. Our objective was to better understand the metabolite distribution in cartilage. We studied the changes in intact bovine patellar cartilage using solid-state ¹H and ¹³C MAS NMR following incubation of the cartilage in D₂O to remove free water. The influence of freezing and thawing on the eluted metabolites was determined using ¹³C NMR. Examination of the ¹H MAS NMR spinning side-bands suggests the presence of multiple bound states of water. Metabolite elution following frozen storage of cartilage shows an increased loss of proteoglycans, relative to fresh tissue.