the insoluble collagens from connective tissue, experimentally induced by stainless steel mesh cylinders implanted in man, dog, and rat, were analyzed for amino acid composition. essentially no differences were observed, the comparative values for these species being similar. in the rat it was found that these tissues contained three classes of heteropolysaccharides in complex mixture of glycosaminoglycans, collagen disaccharides, and sialoglycoproteins as well as a less soluble fraction which is more intimately bound to the collagen fibers of tissue. the same three classes of carbohydrate macromolecules were found in the fascia adjacent to the experimentally induced connective tissue. only hyaluronic acid was found in the adjacent fascia, whereas the connective tissue contained dermatas sulfates and chondroitin sulfates in addition. dacron weavenit cylinders were found to provide a unique wound model providing fresh tissue for immediate enzymatic studies. new methodologies and biochemical procedures were established for the assay of n-acetylgalactosaminyl transferase (agat), the biosynthetic enzyme for chondroitin sulfate, which in turn exists in greater proportion than any of the other component glycosaminoglycans of wound tissue