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. 1978 Feb 1;169(2):265–276. doi: 10.1042/bj1690265

Purification, characterization and inhibition of human skin collagenase

David E Woolley 1, Robert W Glanville 1, Dennis R Roberts 1, John M Evanson 1
PMCID: PMC1184163  PMID: 204294

Abstract

1. The neutral collagenase released into the culture medium by explants of human skin tissue was purified by ultrafiltration and column chromatography. The final enzyme preparation had a specific activity against thermally reconstituted collagen fibrils of 32μg of collagen degraded/min per mg of enzyme protein, representing a 266-fold increase over that of the culture medium. Electrophoresis in polyacrylamide disc gels showed it to migrate as a single protein band from which enzyme activity could be eluted. Chromatographic and polyacrylamide-gel-elution experiments provided no evidence for the existence of more than one active collagenase. 2. The molecular weight of the enzyme estimated from gel filtration and sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis was approx. 60000. The purified collagenase, having a pH optimum of 7.5–8.5, did not hydrolyse the synthetic collagen peptide 4-phenylazobenzyloxycarbonyl-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-d-Arg-OH and had no non-specific proteinase activity when examined against non-collagenous proteins. 3. It attacked undenatured collagen in solution at 25°C, producing the two characteristic products TCA(¾) and TCB(¼). Collagen types I, II and III were all cleaved in a similar manner by the enzyme at 25°C, but under similar conditions basement-membrane collagen appeared not to be susceptible to collagenase attack. At 37°C the enzyme attacked gelatin, producing initially three-quarter and one-quarter fragments of the α-chains, which were degraded further at a lower rate. As judged by the release of soluble hydroxyproline peptides and electron microscopy, the purified enzyme degraded insoluble collagen derived from human skin at 37°C, but at a rate much lower than that for reconstituted collagen fibrils. 4. Inhibition of the skin collagenase was obtained with EDTA, 1,10-phenanthroline, cysteine, dithiothreitol and sodium aurothiomaleate. Cartilage proteoglycans did not inhibit the enzyme. The serum proteins α2-macroglobulin and β1-anti-collagenase both inhibited the enzyme, but α1-anti-trypsin did not. 5. The physicochemical and enzymic properties of the skin enzyme are discussed in relation to those of other human collagenases.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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