Excessive mechanical loading to a joint can lead to matrix damage and chondrocyte death in articular cartilage. These injuries have been associated with the subsequent development of osteoarthritis. Understanding the mechanisms responsible for acute damage of cartilage is essential in the development of therapeutic methods to either prevent or treat these early alterations. The research presented in the current thesis uses both the in vitro chondral explant and in viva rabbit models to examine the acute response of articular cartilage to blunt impact loading. Chapter 1 addressed the issue of injury severity in chondral explants exposed to a culture medium prior to mechanical loading versus explants taken directly from the joint. This study hypothesized that excess fluid present in explants allowed to bathe in a culture medium would result in an artificially high amount of surface fissuring and associated chondrocyte death. Chapter 2 describes experiments in which knee joints of giant Flemish rabbits were subjected to a 6 Joule intensity impact and retro-patellar cartilage was studied in terms of surface fissuring as well as chondrocyte death. This study also evaluated the efficacy of a mild non-ionic surfactant, poloxamer 188, which has been found to reduce chondrocyte death in vitro by repairing damaged cells after an impact. Chapter 3 evaluated the efficacy of the nutraceutical glucosamine in enhancing the mechanical integrity of cartilage explants when pre-treated for a period of 6 days prior to an injurious unconfined compression test.