Low molecular mass proteoglycans (PG) were isolated from human articular cartilage and from pig laryngeal cartilage, which contained protein cores of similar size (Mr 40-44 kDa). However, the PG from human articular cartilage contained dermatan sulphate (DS) chains (50% chondroitinase AC resistant), whereas chains from pig laryngeal PG were longer and contained only chondroitin sulphate (CS). Disaccharide analysis after chondroitinase ABC digestion showed that the human DS-PG contained more 6-sulphated residues (34%) than the pig CS-PG (6%) and both contained fewer 6-sulphated residues than the corresponding high Mr aggregating CS-PGs from these tissues (86% and 20% from human and pig respectively). Cross-reaction of both proteoglycans with antibodies to bovine bone and skin DS-PG-II and human fibroblasts DS-PG suggested that the isolated proteoglycans were the humans DS-PG-II and pigs CS-PG-II homologues of the cloned and sequenced bovine proteoglycan. Polyclonal antibodies raised against the pig CS-PG-II were shown to cross-react with human DS-PG-II. SDS/polyacrylamide-gel analysis and immunoblotting of pig and human cartilage extracts showed that some free core protein was present in the tissues in addition to the intact proteoglycan. The antibodies were used in a competitive radioimmunoassay to determine the content of this low Mr proteoglycan in human cartilage extracts. Analysis of samples from 5-80 year-old humans showed highest content (approximately 4 mg/g wet wt.) in those from 15-25 year-olds and lower content (approximately 1 mg/g wet wt.) in older tissue (greater than 55 years). These changes in content may be related to the deposition and maintenance of the collagen fibre network with which this class of small proteoglycan has been shown to interact.