ANALYSIS OF COLLAGEN FROM NORMAL AND ABNORMAL HUMAN BONE

Abstract

Using cyanogen bromide digestion of bone collagen, the type of collagen in normal bone, and in samples from patients with Paget''s disease of bone, osteomalacia, osteoporosis and renal osteodystrophy was studied. Despite extensive extraction with EDTA and guanidine hydrochloride, not all of the glycoproteins could be removed from bone collagen. Upon electrophoresis on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels, the cyanogen bromide peptides of insoluble bone collagen showed the pattern of type I collagen only in all samples, both normal and abnormal. Amino acid composition of the insoluble collagens and the ratio of hydroxylated and non-hydroxylated amino acids were similar for all adult bone samples. The type of collagen in bone is not altered in the bone diseases examined.