Primary chondrocyte cell cultures and explants of bovine articular cartilage were subjected to cyclic hydrostatic pressure in a novel computer-controlled pressure chamber designed for this purpose. The cultures were labeled with 5 microCi/ml 35SO4 and simultaneously pressurized with 5 MPa load for 1.5 or 20 h with pressure cycles of 0.0167, 0.05, 0.25, and 0.5 Hz. The chondrocyte cell cultures were also subjected to 0.0082 and 0.0034 Hz cycles. Sulfate incorporation was significantly inhibited in cell cultures subjected to the 0.5, 0.25, or 0.05 Hz cyclic loads for 1.5 h, but stimulated in explant cultures with a 0.5 Hz cyclic 1.5-h load. Chondrocyte cultures subjected to longer (20 h) loading showed a stimulation of sulfate incorporation with 0.5 and 0.25 Hz cycles, but an inhibition with 0.0167 Hz. The results indicate that cyclic hydrostatic pressures of presumably physiological magnitude have significant influences on proteoglycan synthesis in articular cartilage chondrocytes. Comparison of the cell and explant cultures under identical pressure conditions suggested that chondrocyte interactions with extracellular matrix are involved in this regulation by cyclic hydrostatic pressure. The responses of the chondrocytes to pressurization also varied according to the total length of the treatment, a finding compatible with the idea of multiple metabolic steps in chondrocytes, both pre- and post-translational, controlled by the ambient hydrostatic pressure.