Biology of Proteoglycans provides a representative, but by no means inclusive, sample of current research on the role of proteoglycans in the cell biology of the extracellular matrix. The book is organized into four areas: methodological developments; proteoglycan metabolism; proteoglycans in cartilage; and proteoglycans in "soft" tissues. It begins with discussions of current methodological developments which have had enormous impact on understanding the complexity of proteoglycan structure. These include the use of monoclonal antibodies to probe the structure of the protein and carbohydrate portions of proteoglycans; and studies on the genes that code for the proteoglycan protein cores and associated proteins. This is followed by separate chapters on various aspects of proteoglycan metabolism, including the synthetic pathway used by cells to synthesize proteoglycans containing heparin and heparan sulfate; the molecular organization of different proteoglycans in cartilage; the role of proteoglycans and associated proteins in the calcification process in growth plate; and the emerging field of proteoglycans in "soft" or noncartilagenous tissue.
