GROUND CARTILAGE POWDER has been reported to accelerate healing of wounds1,2 and to partly reverse the inhibitory effects of cortisone upon wound repair,3 although its active constituents and mechanism of action are unknown. In previous reports cartilage powders both of mammalian and nonmammalian sources have been effective in increasing the force required to disrupt experimental skin wounds.4,5 Both locally applied powder and systemically administered saline extracts of the powder have increased strengths of skin wounds.6
Among the series of events comprising wound repair the elaboration of collagen by fibroblasts within granulation tissue can be measured readily by determining the content of hydroxyproline, an identifying amino acid for collagen.7 The content of collagen of a wound can be correlated with the wound's tensile strength during the first several weeks, the period of most rapid gain in wound tensile strength.8
In these studies small, porous