Action of human skin collagenase on cartilage collagen

Abstract

Ln con~as~ 1o mos~ -~erlebrate coIla~n~ which h~Ne the molecular composition Iu1,{1)] 2 u2, ca~hge collagen ha, s been a>'-wn ~.o be ~a~gety composed of molecules which con "~man ,hxee similar .~ chains, de~igna*ed ~],(n), gi~iug a mo]eeut~x .composition lal0IN~ [1-3]. The ~ormer g known as Type I ogagen and ~e la't~,er Type 11. Neutral collagenases me known ~o be active agair~st Type ] collagen~ and at temperatures below 27~C ha~e been ~h,own ~o dee-~e the co31agen rno!eeu]e ~t'O ~WrO fragmenls commonly called TC A ({) and .TC B (!4) I4--6]. However, i t~ is nol ,deal whether ~his altack is spec,ffic for Type I collagen. Although pxe,dous :smdSe~ had ~own lha~ human neutral collagen~se ~degraded piece~ of iniae~ car,.tilage I7, g] ~ has r:ecen~-]y been repo;te d thal soluble cartilage collagen is refflstant 1o ghlgi~al and p~tYmorph.onuclear leucocyte colhgenase Ig].we have flaere~ore examined *.he effect of pu,~fied hurnma 'zkin c:o~agenase on .soluble ~axt.i!~ge collagen ,and zepox~ hexe the susceptibility ,of Ty,~ il collagen to at.tack by a neutral collagen~se.