the insoluble collagens from experimentally induced connective tissue of stainless steel mesh cylinders implanted in man, dog, and rat were analyzed for amino acid composition and 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 a 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. 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. stainless steel implanted-cylinder wound models and the healing of skin incision wounds were studied to determine variations in tissue concentrations of agat and hydroxyproline during the generation of wound tissue