Chemical composition of epiphyseal plate of long bones: content of amino acids.

The organic matrix of the epiphyseal plate plays an important role in the mineralization of the tissue (I), and the knowledge of its chemical composition may be very useful for the understanding of the process. Complete analyses of bone (2) have been reported, but unfortunately very little information is available on the chemical composition of the epiphyseal plate. In the present study, hydrolysates of epiphyseal plates of young rabbits have been analyzed by ion exchange chromatography for quantitative determination of the amino acids.