Lysozyme in preosseous cartilage VII. Evidence for physiological role of losozyme in normal endochondral calcification

Previous work demonstrated that micropuncture aspirates from rat epiphysical plate cartilage contain a nucleating agent for Ca₃(PO₄)₂ mineral growth, and that the nucleation is inhibited by proteoglycan aggregates. In this report data are described which show that mammalian lysozyme inactivates the inhibition. When micropuncture aspirates are incubated in vitro with mammalian lysozyme, a rapid, spontaneous initiation of mineral growth occurs. Incubation of proteoglycan aggregate preparations in the presence of cartilagea lysozyme, but not hen egg white lysozyme, causes a marked decrease of the sedimentation coefficients of the proteoglycans, usually to values close to those obtained with proteoglycan monomer preparations. The inhibition of this effect of mammalian lysozyme by a specific inhibitor of the enzyme tri(N-acetyl-D-glucosamine) suggests that it may be enzymatic in nature.