Thermo-Reversible Denaturation of Eucollagen in Solution

Abstract

A SUBSTANTIAL proportion of mature collagenous tissue will dissolve in weakly acidic media after a cold pre-treatment in alkali. The resulting solutions of soluble eucollagen show qualitatively many of the characteristics of solutions of acid-soluble collagens¹. In particular, a very dilute solution in 0.15 M citrate (pH 3.7) possesses a high specific viscosity (η_sp/C about 10 dl./gm. at C = 0.02 gm./100 ml.) over the temperature range 5–25° C., and a very much lower value (η_sp/C about 0.4 dl./gm.) at 35° C. and higher temperatures. The high viscosity at low temperatures suggests that eucollagen, like collagen, has a rigid, rod-like form in solution, while the relatively low viscosity at 35° C. and higher temperatures reflects the very flexible nature of the gelatin molecules which are formed rapidly and irreversibly under such conditions from the eucollagen solution.