Calcium pentosan polysulfate inhibits the catabolism of aggrecan in articular cartilage explant cultures

Munteanu SE, Ilic MZ, Handley CJ · Arthritis and Rheumatism

In intact cartilage rather than purified enzyme, PPS slowed aggrecan breakdown dose-dependently and preserved tissue glycosaminoglycan, with the effect largest when catabolism had been deliberately stimulated. Sulfate and leucine incorporation and lactate output were unchanged, so the protection was not bought with suppressed chondrocyte metabolism.

Population

Bovine articular cartilage explants, with joint-capsule conditioned medium as a source of aggrecanase activity

Intervention

Calcium PPS at 1–100 µg/ml, with and without retinoic acid or interleukin-1α to drive breakdown

Comparator

Untreated explants

Limitations

Bovine explants over days, not a treated joint; this is one of the few PPS mechanism papers with no author tie to the drug's development, which is also why it is the version worth quoting.