Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by SHINKAI, H.
Right arrow Articles by NAGAI, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by SHINKAI, H.
Right arrow Articles by NAGAI, Y.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

J. Biochem, 1977, Vol. 81, No. 5 1261-1268
© 1977 Japanese Biochemical Society

research-article

A Latent Collagenase from Embryonic Human Skin Explants

Hiroshi SHINKAI1 and Yutaka NAGAI

Department of Tissue Physiology, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101

Collagenase released from embryonic and adult human skin explants has been studied with special reference to the latency of the enzyme.

  1. Embryonic human skin explants showed a much higher capacity for collagenase production than did adult skin, on the basis of unit weight of tissue.
  2. Culture medium from embryonic skin explants contained latent collagenase at almost twice the concentration of the active form. No appreciable amount of latent enzyme was observed in the adult skin system.
  3. The molecular weights of active and latent collagenases were about 40,000 and 50,000, respectively.
  4. The latent collagenase was found to be activated by simple passage through a Sephadex G-50 column after adding NaI to a final concentration of 3 M. The degree of activation produced by this treatment was as high as that by limited proteolysis with trypsin. It was concluded that no activating enzyme system was involved in the activation of latent collagenase during NaI treatment, and that the latent enzyme was composed of an enzyme-inhibitor complex.
  5. The physiological significance of latent enzyme in the regulation of collagenase activity m vivo is discussed.

1Present address: Department of Dermatology, Osaka University School of Medicine, Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Osaka 553.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.