1 Introduction The provision of nutrients and oxygen to synovial joints is essential for the ph ysiological and load-bearing functions of articular cartilage and the hom- static control of metabolism within chondrocytes, its resident cells (Mobasheri et al. 2002c; Mobasheri et al. 2006). The transport of nutrients (i. e., glucose, other h- ose and pentose sugars, amino acids, nucleotides, nucleosides and water soluble vitamins such as vitamin C) into articular chondrocytes is essential for the synt- sis of collagens, proteoglycans, and glycosaminoglycans by chondrocytes (Clark et al. 2002;...