Figure 4.

Mode of action proposed for in vitro modulation of collagen growth by cyclodextrins. Although the precise mode of inclusion is not known, CDs are postulated to interact with hydrophobic residues of amino acids present in single chains during their formation. The amino acid chains associate into trimers and these trimers subsequently group into fibrils. The presence of cyclodextrins reduces the crosslinking between the various trimers that form the fibrils, thus leading to the formation of thin fibrils and type I collagen [116].