[Collagen-polysaccharide gel as a model of intercellular substance of the connective tissue]

Gel samples forming at 37 degrees C in the solutions containing tropocollagen and various polysaccharides were examined by electron microscopy. Contracting gel clots formed in the solutions containing chondroitin sulfate, proteoglycine from the tracheal cartilage, gum arabic. Electron microscopy showed such clots to be permeated with collagen fibrillae with transverse striations and a period of 640 A. An association between the density of the forming gel and the nature of the polysaccharide component is discussed. Gel forming in the solutions containing tropocollagen and various polysaccharides is regarded as a model of the connective tissue intercellular substance.