Nondestructive fluorescence-based quantification of threose-induced collagen cross-linking in bovine articular cartilage.

Extensive collagen cross-linking affects the mechanical competence of articular cartilage: it can make the cartilage stiffer and more brittle. The concentrations of the best known cross-links, pyridinoline and pentosidine, can be accurately determined by destructive high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). We explore a nondestructive evaluation of cross-linking by using the intrinsic fluorescence of the intact cartilage. Articular cartilage samples from bovine knee joints were incubated in threose solution for 40 and 100 h to increase the collagen cross-linking. Control samples without threose were also prepared. Excitation-emission matrices at wavelengths of 220 to 950 nm were acquired from the samples, and the pentosidine and pyridinoline cross-links and the collagen concentrations were determined using HPLC. After the threose treatment, pentosidine and lysyl pyridinole (LP) concentrations increased. The intrinsic fluorescence, excited below 350 nm, decreased and was related to pentosidine [r = -0.90, 240/325  nm (excitation/emission)] or LP (r = -0.85, 235/285  nm) concentrations. Due to overlapping, the changes in emission could not be linked specifically to the recorded cross-links. However, the fluorescence signal enabled a nondestructive optical estimate of changes in the pentosidine and LP cross-linking of intact articular cartilage.