Skin and Femur Collagens and Urinary Hydroxyproline of Cortisone-Treated Rats

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Abstract
Weanling, young adult and adult male rats received 7 daily intramuscular injections of cortisone acetate. The cortisone-treated and similar control animals received intraperitoneal injections of glycine-2-C14 immediately after the last cortisone injection. All animals were sacrificed 24 hr. after the isotope injections. Urine samples were collected from each group of control and cortisone-treated rats throughout the experiment. Incorporation of labeled glycine into total skin collagen, mature skin collagen and total femur collagen was decreased in each of the 3 age groups of cortisone-treated rats. Urinary hydroxyproline excretion was markedly decreased in cortisone-treated weanling rats and less decreased in cortisone-treated young adult and adult rats. In was concluded that the most probable explanation of these and other data, including tissue free glycine contents, is that cortisone in the quantity administered in the present study primarily decreases synthesis and does not increase degradation of collagen.