Affinity of bone sialoprotein and several other bone and dentin acidic proteins to collagen fibrils

Bone and dentin contain several kinds of mineral-binding proteins and cell-attachment proteins. The authors examined the affinity of these proteins to type I collagen, a major matrix protein of the tissue. Bone sialoprotein (BSP), bone Gla protein (BGP), bone small proteoglycan II (PG II), osteonectin (ON), and dentin phosphophoryn (DPP) were labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate and incubated with reconstituted type I collagen fibril. DPP, BGP, BSP, and PG II were absorbed significantly to the collagen fibril at physiological ionic strength with dissociation constants of 10(-6)-10(-7) M. BSP and PG II enhanced the fibrillogenesis of collagen. These acidic proteins can affect the surface properties of collagen fibril, and BSP, having the cell-attachment sequence Arg-Gly-Asp, possibly mediates interaction between collagen fibril and cells.