Enzymatic Breakdown of Type II Collagen in the Human Vitreous

Abstract

The presence of collagen degradation products in the human vitreous supports the hypothesis that enzymatic breakdown is most likely an active process in this extracellular matrix. Based on the size of the degradation products found by Western blot analysis, it is likely that in addition to MMPs, other proteolytic enzymes able to digest type II collagen are also active.