We have isolated and characterized four collagen-related c-DNA clones (N-COL 1, N-COL 2, N-COL 3, N-COL 4) that are highly expressed in developing nematocytes in hydra. All four c-DNAs as well as their corresponding transcripts are small in size (600-1,000 bp). The deduced amino acid sequences show that they contain a central region consisting of 14 to 16 Gly-X-Y triplets. This region is flanke...

Véronique Lejard, Frédéric Blais, Marie-Justine Guerquin, Aline Bonnet, Marie-Ange Bonnin, Emmanuelle Havis, Maryline Malbouyres, Christelle Bonod Bidaud, Géraldine Maro, Pascale Gilardi-Hebenstreit, Jérome Rossert, Florence Ruggiero and Delphine Duprez* 1 UPMC, CNRS UMR 7622, Paris, France. 2 IBCP, CNRS UMR 5086, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France. 3 INSERM, U784, ENS, Paris, France. 4 INSERM, U6...

Collagens have previously been overlooked for roles in the brain since fibrillar collagens, the best known and most widely studied example of collagens, are not present in the mature central nervous system (CNS). However, over the last decade it has become increasingly apparent that collagens are not merely structural proteins giving strength to tissue, but bio-active molecules with a dynamic r...

The standard collagen triple helix requires Gly as every third residue in the amino acid sequence, yet all nonfibrillar collagens contain sites where this repeating pattern is interrupted. To explore the effects of such natural interruptions on the triple helix, a 4- or 15-residue sequence from human basement membrane type IV collagen was introduced between (Gly-Xaa-Yaa)(n) domains within a rec...

Heat shock protein 47 (HSP47) is a collagen-specific molecular chaperone that helps the molecular maturation of various types of collagens. A close association between increased expression of HSP47 and the excessive accumulation of collagens is found in various human and experimental fibrotic diseases. Increased levels of HSP47 in fibrotic diseases are thought to assist in the increased assembl...

Preparation of microfibre constructs of collagen by electrospinning has been problematic due to the instability of collagen in volatile solvents, such as 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol, so that electrospinning leads to a substantial amount of gelatin fibres. In the present study we have demonstrated the production of collagen-based microfibre constructs by use of a layer-by-layer coating pro...

Combination formulations of liposomes with collagen have been previously introduced as a means of obtaining more stable and less permeable liposomes. In this study, the effect of aqueous solutions of the collagen products COLLAPUR? (COL) and COLLAPURON-DAK? (COLD) from Henkle Co., on the release rate of sodium chromate (CHR) as a water-soluble model drug from stable plurilamellar vesicles (SPLV...

Insoluble collagen fibrils were obtained from Cysticercus cellulosae after homogenization and treatment with NaCl/mercaptoethanol solutions and were solubilized after limited pepsin digestion. Solubilized Cysticercus collagen shows two different alpha subunits in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with an apparent molecular weight of 100,000 and is readily degraded by bac...