High resolution 1H NMR spectroscopy has been employed to investigate the metabolic profile of healthy human knee-joint synovial fluid (SF) and the biochemical data acquired have been compared with those of matched serum, and inflammatory knee-joint SF samples. Results obtained indicate that the healthy human knee-joint has a hypoxic status (high lactate level when expressed relative to that of paired serum) that is milder than that of the inflamed human knee-joint. Moreover, normal SF differs from that of inflammatory SF in that it contains little or no NMR-detectable lipoprotein-associated fatty acids and 'acute-phase' glycoproteins, an observation reflecting the limited passage of these macromolecules from plasma into the synovial space in healthy subjects.