scholarly journals The effect of semicarbazide on the nature and stability of collagen fibrils

1970 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley Ayad ◽  
C. H. Wynn

Semicarbazide affected both the final width and stability of fibrils reconstituted from solutions of acid-soluble collagen. Fibril width was increased after semicarbazide treatment at pH2.6 and 4.3, whereas after treatment at pH8.9 it decreased. Fibril stability was decreased after semicarbazide treatment at all values of pH and temperature, indicating the inhibition of intermolecular cross-linking. A direct binding of semicarbazide to the αβ-unsaturated aldehyde groups in the intramolecular cross-link was demonstrated.

1974 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary C. Burleigh ◽  
Alan J. Barrett ◽  
Gerald S. Lazarus

1. Experiments were made to determine whether the purified lysosomal proteinases, cathepsins B1 and D, degrade acid-soluble collagen in solution, reconstituted collagen fibrils, insoluble collagen or gelatin. 2. At acid pH values cathepsin B1 released 14C-labelled peptides from collagen fibrils reconstituted at neutral pH from soluble collagen. The purified enzyme required activation by cysteine and EDTA and was inhibited by 4-chloromercuribenzoate, by the chloromethyl ketones derived from tosyl-lysine and acetyltetra-alanine and by human α2-macroglobulin. 3. Cathepsin B1 degraded collagen in solution, the pH optimum being pH4.5–5.0. The initial action was cleavage of the non-helical region containing the cross-link; this was seen as a decrease in viscosity with no change in optical rotation. The enzyme also attacked the helical region of collagen by a mechanism different from that of mammalian neutral collagenase. No discrete intermediate products of a specific size were observed in segment-long-spacing crystalloids (measured as native collagen molecules aligned with N-termini together along the long axis) or as separate peaks on gel filtration chromatography. This suggests that once an α-chain was attacked it was rapidly degraded to low-molecular-weight peptides. 4. Cathepsin B1 degraded insoluble collagen with a pH optimum below 4; this value is lower than that found for the soluble substrate, and a possible explanation is given. 5. The lysosomal carboxyl proteinase, cathepsin D, had no action on collagen or gelatin at pH3.0. Neither cathepsin B1 nor D cleaved Pz-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-d-Arg. 6. Cathepsin B1 activity was shown to be essential for the degradation of collagen by lysosomal extracts. 7. Cathepsin B1 may provide an alternative route for collagen breakdown in physiological and pathological situations.


2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 367-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon L. M. Dahl ◽  
Robert B. Rucker ◽  
Laura E. Niklason

In many cases, the mechanical strengths of tissue-engineered arteries do not match the mechanical strengths of native arteries. Ultimate arterial strength is primarily dictated by collagen in the extracellular matrix, but collagen in engineered arteries is not as dense, as organized, or as mature as collagen in native arteries. One step in the maturation process of collagen is the formation of hydroxylysyl pyridinoline (HP) cross-links between and within collagen molecules. HP cross-link formation, which is triggered by the copper-activated enzyme lysyl oxidase, greatly increases collagen fibril stability and enhances tissue strength. Increased cross-link formation, in addition to increased collagen production, may yield a stronger engineered tissue. In this article, the effect of increasing culture medium copper ion concentration on engineered arterial tissue composition and mechanics was investigated. Engineered vessels grown in low copper ion concentrations for the first 4 weeks of culture, followed by higher copper ion concentrations for the last 3 weeks of culture, had significantly elevated levels of cross-link formation compared to those grown in low copper ion concentrations. In contrast, vessels grown in high copper ion concentrations throughout culture failed to develop higher collagen cross-link densities than those grown in low copper ion concentrations. Although the additional cross-linking of collagen in engineered vessels may provide collagen fibril stability and resistance to proteolysis, it failed to enhance global tissue strength.


1971 ◽  
Vol 124 (5) ◽  
pp. 915-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. D. Kemp ◽  
G. R. Tristram

Ossein was solubilized by the action of alkali and a resulting high-molecular-weight fraction isolated. The chemical and physical properties of this fraction were studied and compared with those of an acid-soluble collagen prepared from calf skin by conventional techniques. From the results it is concluded that the alkali-soluble protein exhibits only minor differences from acid-soluble collagen, and that these differences can be ascribed for the most part to a decrease in the inter- and intramolecular cross-linking.


The collagen fibril diameter distribution of four immature tissues from both rat and sheep have been determined from transverse sections observed in the transmission electron microscope. In many instances before birth, the form of the distribution for the tissues is both unimodal and sharp and the mean diameters of the distributions lie close to a multiple of 80 Å. For some tissues, the collagen fibril diameter distributions may be resolved into a number of components, each of which represents a population of fibrils with a diameter close to a multiple of 80 Å (8 nm). These data confirm and extend previous observations by the authors that small collagen fibrils all have diameters that are multiples of about 80 Å and that the fibril growth occurs by the accretion of 80 Å units. The form of the collagen fibril diameter distribution at birth is broad for the sheep tissues but narrow for the rat tissues, thus confirming that the range of fibril diameters at this stage of life reflects the differing degree of development of precocious and altricious animals.


1979 ◽  
Vol 181 (3) ◽  
pp. 639-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
C A Vater ◽  
E D Harris ◽  
R C Siegel

A model system consisting of highly purified lysyl oxidase and reconstituted lathyritic chick bone collagen fibrils was used to study the effect of collagen cross-linking on collagen degradation by mammalian collagenase. The results indicate that synthesis of approx. 0.1 Schiff-base cross-link per collagen molecule results in a 2–3-fold resistance to human synovial collagenase when compared with un-cross-linked controls or samples incubated in the presence of beta-aminopropionitrile to inhibit cross-linking. These results confirm previous studies utilizing artificially cross-linked collagens, or collagens isolated as insoluble material after cross-linking in vivo, and suggest that increased resistance to collagenase may be one of the earliest effects of cross-linking in vivo. The extent of intermolecular cross-linking among collagen fibrils may provide a mechanism for regulating the rate of collagen catabolism relative to synthesis in normal and pathological conditions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. L. Verbruggen ◽  
L. van der Does ◽  
W. K. Dierkes ◽  
J. W. M. Noordermeer

ABSTRACT The theoretical model developed by Charlesby to quantify the balance between cross-links creation of polymers and chain scission during radiation cross-linking and further modifications by Horikx to describe network breakdown from aging were merged to characterize the balance of both types of scission on the development of the sol content during de-vulcanization of rubber networks. There are, however, disturbing factors in these theoretical considerations vis-à-vis practical reality. Sulfur- and peroxide-cured NR and EPDM vulcanizates were de-vulcanized under conditions of selective cross-link and random main-chain scissions. Cross-link scission was obtained using thiol-amine reagents for selective cleavage of sulfur cross-links. Random main-chain scission was achieved by heating peroxide vulcanizates of NR with diphenyldisulfide, a method commonly employed for NR reclaiming. An important factor in the analyses of these experiments is the cross-linking index. Its value must be calculated using the sol fraction of the cross-linked network before de-vulcanization to obtain reliable results. The values for the cross-linking index calculated with sol-gel data before de-vulcanization appear to fit the experimentally determined modes of network scission during de-vulcanization very well. This study confirms that the treatment of de-vulcanization data with the merged Charlesby and Horikx models can be used satisfactorily to characterize the de-vulcanization of NR and EPDM vulcanizates.


1990 ◽  
Vol 271 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Martinet ◽  
S Beninati ◽  
T P Nigra ◽  
J E Folk

N1N8-Bis(gamma-glutamyl)spermidine was found in exhaustive proteolytic digests of isolated cell envelopes from human epidermis at levels comparable with those of epsilon-(gamma-glutamyl)lysine. Significantly higher than normal amounts of these compounds, particularly the bis(gamma-glutamyl)polyamine, were observed in envelopes from afflicted areas (scales) of psoriatic patients. These findings support the notions that N1N8-bis(gamma-glutamyl)spermidine, like epsilon-(gamma-glutamyl)lysine, functions in cell envelopes as an enzyme-generated protein cross-link and stabilizing force and that individuals with the chronic, recurrent skin disease, psoriasis, exhibit in involved epidermis abnormal cell-envelope-protein cross-linking.


1980 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 414-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
S D MacLean-Fletcher ◽  
T D Pollard

We have studied the kinetics of the gelation process that occurs upon warming cold extracts of Acanthamoeba using a low-shear falling ball assay. We find that the reaction has at least two steps, requires 0.5 mM ATP and 1.5 mM MgCl2, and is inhibited by micromolar Ca++. The optimum pH is 7.0 and temperature, 25 degrees-30 degrees C. The rate of the reaction is increased by cold preincubation with both MgCl2 and ATP. Nonhydrolyzable analogues of ATP will not substitute for ATP either in this "potentiation reaction" or in the gelation process. Either of two purified or any one of four partially purified Acanthamoeba proteins will cross-link purified actin to form a gel, but none can account for the dependence of the reaction in the crude extract on Mg-ATP or its regulation by Ca++. This suggests that the extract contains, in addition to actin-cross-linking proteins, factors dependent on Mg-ATP and Ca++ that regulate the gelation process.


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